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Change everything: innovators who are building a better future

Some of today's smartest minds, from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai to human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, nominate the changemakers of tomorrow

As we say goodbye to 2020, we look to the people taking real steps to make the world a better place, in 2021 and beyond. We asked leaders across the WIRED world, from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai to Oxford Covid-19 vaccine researcher Sarah Gilbert, to name a person whose work they think deserves greater recognition. Spanning scientists, technologists, founders and activists, these are the people working to build a brighter future.

Teresa Lambe, associate professor and Jenner investigator, The Jenner Institute

I’m nominating Associate Professor Teresa Lambe, who has been leading on immunology assessments in the Oxford-led trials of [Covid-19 vaccine candidate] ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Prof Lambe has assembled a team to work with our UK trial sites and international collaborators to ensure that we get high-quality immunology data from our clinical trials in the shortest possible time.

Laura DeNardis, professor af the School of Communication, American University

Laura DeNardis is a razor-sharp visionary of technology and the power battles that come with digitisation and connectivity. While excitement over efficiency drew millions to the internet, she pointed to the coming war of internet governance. Now that this war is unfolding, she highlights the revolutionary change that “the internet in everything” – from devices to human bodies – brings for human rights and security. The integration of the physical and digital causes a blurring of boundaries that deeply impacts human agency. Her warnings about the need to scale up security must be heard today, in order to prevent disaster tomorrow.

Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of Rappler

Maria Ressa is the founder of Rappler, one of the last independent news sites in the Philippines that dares to report the truth. The site uses technology to uncover how social media is being used by the Duterte regime and other authoritarian governments to bury facts and spread disinformation. At a time when the traditional funding models for journalism are collapsing, Rappler has also used technology to create new revenue streams that make news reporting sustainable. Maria is facing a succession of prosecutions on bogus charges that threaten to bankrupt her and send her to prison for the rest of her life. If that happens, it would be a loss for her country, for her profession, and for us all.

Martha Lane Fox, entrepreneur and internet activist

My nominations are the co-founders of We Belong, Chrisann Jarrett and Dami Makinde. Chrisann and Dami have used their own experiences of being young migrants blocked from an education in the UK to start an organisation to help others. Dami is a remarkable leader who fights for some of the least-heard people in the country. Chrisann is also an extraordinary leader who has recently become a trustee of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust, where her voice is always championing excluded young people.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking.