Benjamin Wachenje

Title: Interactive artist; founder and CEO, littleBits

Born: Montreal

Education: BS in computer engineering and sociology, American University of Beirut; MS, media arts and sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Early Marker: Co-founded Beirut's first nonprofit media lab for experimental arts, architecture and technology.

Big Idea: An open-source library of modular electronics that snap together with magnets—"digital Lego."

Wave of the Future: Open-source hardware movement