Ayah Bdeir

Who is Ayah Bdeir?

Ayah Bdeir is an interactive artist, engineer, and founder/CEO of littleBits, an open source library of modular electronics that snap together with magnets. Bdeir is considered one of the leaders of the Open Hardware Movement and was named on Fastcompany's "Most Creative People in Business" for 2013.

Bdeir received her masters degree from the MIT Media Lab and undergraduate degrees in Computer Engineering and Sociology from the American University of Beirut. In 2008, she was awarded a fellowship at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center in New York City In 2010, she was awarded a fellowship with Creative Commons for her work in Open Hardware. She has taught graduate classes at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program and Parsons The New School for Design. In 2010, Bdeir served as a design mentor on the reality TV show, Stars of Science. In January 2011, in its second season, Stars of Science, initiated by Qatar Foundation, is the first Pan-Arab reality-TV program dedicated to innovation, aiming to shine a spotlight on the next generation of young Arab innovators.

In September 2011, Bdeir started littleBits Electronics, a startup based in New York with funding from Joi Ito, Nicholas Negroponte, Joanne Wilson and others.