Tobias Abt is Manager for Global Raw Material Procurement and Strategic Market Development at Mercedes-Benz AG. Tobias has been working for the company for about seven years and has occupied different functions within the Mercedes-Benz procurement and strategy departments in Germany, China and the US. In his current role, he leads the global raw material strategy, especially for future oriented raw materials within the field of electro mobility and international market observation for direct material sourcing.

Tobias has an engineering background from the University of Applied Science Ravensburg, Germany, with a specialization in international management and manufacturing engineering. Furthermore, he holds a master’s degree in Management of Innovation and Business Development from Halmstad University, Sweden and studied in Bangkok, Shanghai and Tokyo in the field of business model innovation and automotive.

Kadri Simson is the European commissioner for energy, a position she has held since December 2019. She previously held the position of minister of economics affairs and infrastructure of the Republic of Estonia from 2016 to 2019. During the Estonian presidency of the council of the EU (from July to December 2017), Simson chaired both the meetings of the energy ministers and transport ministers in the transport, telecommunications and energy (TTE) council as well as the meeting of economy ministers in the EU competitiveness council. From 2007 to 2016, she was a member of the Estonian Parliament (“Riigikogu”) and was re-elected in 2019. Simson has a degree in history at the University of Tartu and holds a master’s degree in political science from the University College London.

Jens Wiese is the Head of Group M&A, Investment Advisory and Partnerships at Volkswagen AG. He has held multiple roles during his tenure at VW, including as Head of Group Battery Strategy.

He is a member of the Supervisory Board of QuantumScape Corp. Prior to joining VW, he served as a management consultant and held senior roles at AlixPartners and Roland Berger, focusing on the automotive and other industrial sectors.

He holds an MBA from Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich.

Olivier Sala was appointed the Group Vice President of Research & Innovation at ENGIE in July 2021. Passionate about energy & carbon transition challenges and how technologies can contribute, Olivier is an experienced VP with a demonstrated history of working in the Energy and Services industry.

In 1993, Olivier Sala graduated from the University of Technology in Compiègne with a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, and in 1996 from ESSEC. He began his career at Air Liquide before moving into consulting at A.T. Kearney, followed by the Boston Consulting Group.

ENGIE is a leading world group that provides low-carbon energy, and aims to meet the challenges of climate change by achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2045. Guided by its objective statement, ENGIE reconciles economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet, using its expertise in four core businesses: renewable energy, energy solutions, networks, thermal generation and energy supply.

Sopna joined the board of RWE Generation SE in February 2021, responsible for coordinating RWE’s hydrogen activities and driving strategy development, regulatory affairs and integration management.

At the start of her career in management consultancy with McKinsey & Company, Sopra mostly served clients in the financial services sector, and worked on transformation topics. She later joined the energy industry and held various positions at E.ON such as Director Energy Solutions, Director Business Development & Business Affairs for the renewables business and member of the inhouse consulting management team. At Uniper she was leading the area Energy Services & Infrastructure.

RWE all energy and resources are put towards making a sustainable life possible. Investing massively in expanding renewables and staying involved in innovative hydrogen projects, RWE is consistently reducing carbon emissions to become carbon neutral by 2040.

Emmanuel Lagarrigue is the Chief Innovation Officer of Schneider Electric (SU.FP) and a member of its Global Executive Committee. His mission is to create new profitable growth platforms for the company and to drive a culture of open and collaborative innovation. He has the direct responsibility of Schneider Electric’s Energy Transition businesses, including mircrogrids, eMobility, solar power and the Energy Transition Hub. He also leads Schneider Electric’s venture activities, investing in or collaborating with hundreds of startups across the world. And he has led the creation of new ventures in energy and infrastructures, such as AlphaStruxure, a joint venture between The Carlyle Group and Schneider Electric or GreenStruxure.

Emmanuel serves on the boards of AlphaStruxure LLC, GreenStruxure and JBTC (NYSE: JBT). He is also the Chairman of the Menorca Preservation Fund, a non-profit organization in Spain.
Emmanuel was previously the Chief Strategy Officer of Schneider Electric. He also held multiple operational and general management positions for the company in Europe, South America, Asia and the United States. Emmanuel graduated from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and from ENSEEIHT in Toulouse, France.

With the help of his brothers Daniel and Philipp, Patrik Tykesson founded e-bility GmbH (widely know for its E-Scooter brand ‚Kumpan Electric‘) in 2010. In ten years of existence his company has enlarged its product portfolio from E-Scooters and E-Kick-Scooters to energy storage systems and smart business solutions, such as Mobility-Sharing Solutions for companies and municipalities.

Patrik is convinced that “E-mobility is not only about sustainability, it’s much more than that: For us it means offering mobility-on-demand, magnificent driving experiences, attractive ranges of up to 180 km and at the same time innovative technology. On top, we are working on GreenTech-solutions that go far beyond „just two-wheelers“: We are convinced that portable energy storage is the future and we’ll be frontrunner in offering solutions for a variety of use cases – for example your lawn-mower at home. E-bility´s swappable battery is already implemented in three last-mile Tech-Solutions of our partners and we’re currently looking for more companies to cooperate with.

Dr. Steven Chu is an American physicist and a former government official. He is known for his research at Bell Labs and Stanford University regarding the cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Daniel Phillips.

Dr. Chu served as the 12th United States Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2013 in the administration of U.S President Barack Obama. As the first scientist to hold a Cabinet position and the longest serving Energy Secretary, he recruited outstanding scientists and engineers into the Department of Energy. He began several initiatives including ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy), the Energy Innovation Hubs, and was personally tasked by President Obama to assist BP in stopping the Deepwater Horizon oil leak.

Prior to his cabinet post, he was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he was active in pursuit of alternative and renewable energy technologies, and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University, where he helped launch Bio-X, a multi-disciplinary institute combining the physical and biological sciences with medicine and engineering. Previously he was head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Dr. Chu is a vocal advocate for more research into renewable energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combating climate change. He has conceived of a global “glucose economy”, a form of a low-carbon economy, in which glucose from tropical plants is shipped around like oil is today. On 22 February, 2019, Dr. Chu began a one-year term as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson, is an Irish Independent politician who served as the seventh President of Ireland, becoming the first woman to hold this office. She also served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002 and a Senator for the University of Dublin from 1969 to 1989. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister and campaigner. In the 1990 presidential election she became the first Independent candidate nominated by the Labor Party, the Workers’ Party and Independent Senators.

She is widely regarded as a transformative figure for Ireland, and for the Irish presidency, revitalizing and liberalizing a previously conservative, low-profile political office. She resigned the presidency two months ahead of the end of her term of office to take up her post in the United Nations. During her UN tenure she visited Tibet (1998), the first High Commissioner to do so; she criticised Ireland’s immigrant policy; and the use of capital punishment in the United States. She extended her intended single four-year term by a year to preside over the World Conference against Racism 2001 in Durban, South Africa; the conference proved controversial.

After leaving the UN in 2002, Robinson formed Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative, which came to a planned end at the end of 2010. Its core activities were 1) fostering equitable trade and decent work, 2) promoting the right to health and more humane migration policies, and 3) working to strengthen women’s leadership and encourage corporate social responsibility. The organisation also supported capacity building and good governance in developing countries. Mary Robinson returned to live in Ireland at the end of 2010, and has set up The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, which aims to be ‘a center for thought leadership, education and advocacy on the struggle to secure global justice for those many victims of climate change who are usually forgotten – the poor, the disempowered and the marginalised across the world.’

Mary Robinson is Chairman of the Institute for Human Rights and Business and Chancellor of the University of Dublin. Since 2004, she has also been Professor of Practice in International Affairs at Columbia University, where she teaches international human rights. Mary also visits other colleges and universities where she lectures on human rights. She also sits on the board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an organisation which supports good governance and great leadership in Africa and is a member of the Foundation’s Ibrahim Prize Committee. As well, she is an Extraordinary Professor in the Centre for Human Rights and the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender at the University of Pretoria. Since 2005 she is honorary president of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation EIUC. In addition, she is Chairman of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and a founding member and chairman of the Council of Women World Leaders.

In 2004, she received Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for her work in promoting human rights.

Jean-Bernard Lévy is Chairman and CEO of EDF Group since November 2014. From 2012 to 2014, he was Chairman & CEO of Thales Group, a group specialised in aerospace and defence industries. Prior to that, he was at Vivendi as COO from 2002 to 2005 and as CEO from 2005 to 2012. From 1998 to 2002, he was Managing Partner, Corporate Finance at Oddo & Cie. From 1995 to 1998, he was Chairman & CEO of Matra Communication. In 1993 and 1994, he served as Chief of Staff to Gérard Longuet, the French Minister for Industry, Postal Services & Telecommunications, and Foreign Trade. Earlier he held several positions at Matra Espace, Matra Marconi Space and France Telecom where he began his career in 1979 as an engineer in Angers. Jean-Bernard Lévy is a graduate of École Polytechnique (class of 1973) and Telecom Paris Tech.

Christel Heydemann has been Independent Director at Orange SA since 26 July, 2017. She has been Executive Vice President of France Operations at Schneider Electric S.E. since 3 August 2017. Ms. Heydemann is Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of Schneider Electric France since April 2017. She served as Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Alliances at Schneider Electric since joining in 2014, where she was tasked with accelerating the launch of IoT solutions by developing a partnership ecosystem. She served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Alliances & Development at Orange S.A. since 2016. She served as an Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Transformation at Alcatel-Lucent since 22 August, 2011 and served as its Strategic Alliance Vice President for HP since June 2009. She was responsible for leading, developing and enhancing Alcatel-Lucent’s strategic relationship with HP. She focused on the go-to-market activities, the development of end-to-end solutions combining Alcatel-Lucent and HP portfolios and the alignment of Alcatel-Lucent products and services with HP products and services. In 2004, she joined the sales division at Alcatel- Lucent where she was key account manager for SFR and Orange SA. She served as Sales Director France at Alcatel-Lucent France since 2008. She held various managerial positions such as Key Account Manager for SFR and Orange SA among others. Christel joined Alcatel-Lucent, in 1999, in the Project finance team of the Chief Financial Officer. She began her career as Analyst at the Boston Consulting Group since 1997. She is a Director of Association AX and France Industrie. She was a Director of Fondation des Ponts et Chaussées. Ms. Heydemann is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees.

Mr Laurent Michel, is the General Director for Energy and Climate at the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition. A graduate of the Polytechnique, Laurent Michel has held various positions at the Regional Directorate for Industry, Research and Environment (DRIRE) or at the School of Mines from 1991 to 2006. Director of the DRIRE Midi-Pyrénées from 2003 to 2006, he was then appointed Director of Pollution and Risk Prevention, delegate for major risks, within the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, before taking charge of the General Directorate for Risk Prevention (DGPR) when the Directorate was formed in 2008. Laurent Michel is the General Directorate for Energy and Climate (DGEC) at the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition since December 2012.

From 2012 to 2018, Bill Weihl was the Director of Sustainability at Facebook.  He built a team that directs work on sustainability and energy efficiency across the company, driving projects to track and reduce the company’s environmental footprint in all aspects of its operations. Him and his team also drove cross-industry collaborations, including playing critical roles in RE100 and the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance.

Prior to Facebook, Bill was Green Energy Czar at Google, where his team pioneered Google’s work to buy clean energy for its data centers, and helped found the Climate Savers Computing Initiative with Intel and WWF.  In 2009, he was honored by Time Magazine as one of their Heroes of the Environment in recognition of the work he and his colleagues did at Google, in 2016 he was honored with the Global Green Award for environmental leadership, and in 2018 he was honored by Greenbiz with the VERGE Vanguard Award.

Earlier in his career, Bill was a Professor of Computer Science at MIT, a researcher at Digital’s Systems Research Center, and CTO of Akamai Technologies.  He holds an SB degree in Mathematics, as well as SB, SM, and PhD degrees in Computer Science, all from MIT.

Ambroise Fayolle has been Vice President of European Investment Bank since 24 February 2015. Before then he has had many roles: as Director General of Agency France Trésor, as the Head of the Multilateral Affairs and Development Department at the Treasury and Economic Policy Division, as Equity Analyst at Nomura Securities Co. Ltd., Research Division, as the Executive Director of International Bank For Reconstruction & Development. In addition, he was the Director of Caisse d’Amortissement De La Dette Sociale, he represented France on the boards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, he served as Member of Supervisory Board of Agence Francaise de Development and he worked as a senior official for the G8 and co-chairman of the Paris Club.

Dr. Cyrus Wadia is the Former Vice President of Sustainable Business & Innovation at NIKE, Inc., where he is responsible for enabling the company’s sustainability strategy with the goal of driving change across Nike and the wider industry. The team he leads focuses on several areas including testing and prototyping of new business models, accelerating partnerships for scaling sustainable innovations, and supporting Nike’s broad innovation agenda through science and analytics.

Dr. Cyrus is also the former Assistant Director for Clean Energy and Materials R&D with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where he advised the White House and Executive Branch leadership in the design of national policy in energy, climate, advanced materials, manufacturing, and critical minerals. In this role, which he held from 2010-2015, Dr. Cyrus was responsible for the creation and expansion of more than $1 billion (US dollars) in new budgetary initiatives, including the Materials Genome Initiative, and he led the development of the nation’s first policy framework and strategy on critical minerals.

Prior to joining the White House, Dr. Cyrus held a dual appointment with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the Haas School of Business where he was the Co-Director of Cleantech to Market and a research scientist. He also spent more than seven years in Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur, working with 15 start-ups in Silicon Valley. In 2009, Dr. Cyrus was named one of MIT Technology Review’s Top Innovators under 35. The Review cited his economic analysis of materials with good electrical properties that can effectively absorb sunlight, identifying two previously overlooked materials.

Since 2009, Dr. Cyrus has been a frequent speaker on sustainability, materials and innovation, with more than 65 keynote and invited speaking addresses. His work has been cited in more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific articles and he has patented methods for sustainable energy breakthroughs. US Patent 8425865 was granted for a method of synthesizing pyrite nanocrystals (also known as fool’s gold) as a non-toxic and naturally occurring candidate for photovoltaic material.

Dr. Cyrus earned his Ph.D in Energy & Resources from U.C. Berkeley, and holds both an M.S. and S.B. in Chemical Engineering from MIT.

Mechthild Wörsdörfer joined the International Energy Agency (IEA) on 1 October 2018 as Director of Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks. Wörsdörfer plans and co-ordinates the IEA’s work on energy sustainability, encompassing energy technology policy and climate change policy. She oversees several of the IEA’s major analytical reports including long-term scenarios and technology roadmaps. Wörsdörfer has been an active participant in the Governing Board of the IEA representing the European Union, as well as the EU contact at the Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation.

Over the years, she served as Director for renewables, research and innovation and energy efficiency, as well as Director of Energy Policy at the European Commission. Wörsdörfer headed the adoption of the Energy Roadmap 2050, the Energy and Climate Policy 2030 Framework and the Clean Energy Package. She has served in the cabinet of Commissioner Erkki Liikanen on competitiveness issues, digital economy and international relations.

Wörsdörfer, a German national, holds a Master’s degree in Economic Policy and Management from the Brussels University, a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Economics (Finance) from the University of Montpellier and a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Economics, French and Spanish from the Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg.

Professor Dr. Jean-Michel Glachant is the Director of the Florence School of Regulation and the Holder of the Loyola de Palacio Chair, since 2008.

Dr. Glachant gained his Ph.D. in economics at La Sorbonne in France. He worked in the industry and private sector before becoming professor at La Sorbonne.

He has been advisor of DG TREN, DG COMP and DG RESEARCH at the European Commission and of the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). He has been a coordinator and scientific advisor of several European research projects. He is a research partner in the CEEPR at MIT (USA), the EPRG at Cambridge University. Dr. Glachant has been the first editor-in-chief of EEEP: “Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy” (an IAEE journal) and is Vice-President of both the French and the International Association for Energy Economics.

His main research interests are the building of a common European energy policy (security of supply, renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy technology policy, and climate change policy), the achievement of the European energy internal market (design, regulation and competition policy), the industrial organisation and market strategy of energy companies in a wave of innovation (decarbonisation, decentralisation, and digitalisation).

Akshat Rathi is a London-based senior reporter for Bloomberg News. He has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford, and a BTech in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai.

He tells stories of the people and their ideas tackling the biggest problem facing humanity: climate change. He has edited a book of essays from young climate leaders and he is currently working on a book about scaling up climate solutions.

Previously, Akshat was a senior reporter at Quartz and a science editor at The Conversation. He has also worked for The Economist and the Royal Society of Chemistry. His writings have also been published in Nature, The Hindu, The Guardian, Ars Technica, and Chemistry World, among others.

Dr. Daniel M. Kammen is a Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley, with parallel appointments in the Energy and Resources Group where he serves as Chair, the Goldman School of Public Policy where he directs the Center for Environmental Policy, and the department of Nuclear Engineering. Dr. Kammen is the founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL; http://rael.berkeley.edu), and was Director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center from 2007 – 2015

He was appointed by then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in April 2010 as the first energy fellow of the Environment and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) initiative.  He began service as the Science Envoy for U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016, but resigned over President Trump’s policies in August, 2017.  He has served the State of California and US federal government in expert and advisory capacities, including time at the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Energy, the Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy

Dr. Kammen was educated in physics at Cornell (BA 1984) and Harvard (MA 1986; PhD 1988), and held postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard. He was an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Program at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University before moving to the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Kammen has served as a contributing or coordinating lead author on various reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 1999.  The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Kammen helped found over 10 companies, including Enphase that went public in 2012, Renewable Funding (Renew Financial) a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) implementing company that went public in 2014.  Dr. Kammen played a central role in developing the successful bid for the $500 million energy biosciences institute funded by BP.

During 2010-2011 Dr. Kammen served as the World Bank Group’s first Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. While there Dr. Kammen worked on the Kenya-Ethiopia “green corridor” transmission project, Morocco’s green transformation, the 10-year energy strategy for the World Bank, and on investing in household energy and gender equity.  He was appointed to this newly-created position in October 2010, in which he provided strategic leadership on policy, technical, and operational fronts. The aim is to enhance the operational impact of the Bank’s renewable energy and energy efficiency activities while expanding the institution’s role as an enabler of global dialogue on moving energy development to a cleaner and more sustainable pathway.  Dr. Kammen’s work at the World Bank included funding electrified personal and municipal vehicles in China, and the $1.24 billion transmission project linking renewable energy assets in Kenya and Ethiopia.

He has authored or co-authored 12 books, written more than 300 peer-reviewed journal publications, and has testified more than 40 times to U.S. state and federal congressional briefings, and has provided various governments with more than 50 technical reports. For details see http;//rael.berkeley.edu/publications.  Dr. Kammen also served for many years on the Technical Review board of the Global Environment Facility.  He is the Specialty Chief Editor for Understanding Earth and Its Resources for Frontiers for Young Minds.

Dr. Kammen is a frequent contributor to or commentator in international news media, including Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Financial Times. Dr. Kammen has appeared on ‘60 Minutes’ (twice), NOVA, Frontline, and hosted the six-part Discovery Channel series Ecopolis.  Dr. Kammen is a Permanent Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society. In the US, has served on several National Academy of Sciences boards and panels.

Dr. Kammen was a keynote speaker at TBB.2018

Michael Sen is a member of the Siemens Managing Board, in which he has special responsibility for Siemens Healthineers, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and the company’s Global Services unit. After completing a Siemens Trainee Program (Stammhauslehre) and earning a degree in business administration at the Technical University in Berlin, he held various positions at Siemens, where he served among others, in the Corporate Strategy Department, as Head of Investor Relations and as Chief Financial Officer of the Healthcare Sector. In 2015, Sen moved to E.ON, where he was the company’s Chief Financial Officer. In this role, he was responsible for the spinoff of E.ON’s energy trading business and its conventional power generation business to form the subsidiary Uniper including the unit’s public listing. In 2017, he returned to Siemens. As the member of the Managing Board with special responsibility for Siemens Healthineers, he helped prepare the business’s IPO, which took place in March 2018.

Dr. Sen was a keynote speaker at TBB.2018

Kasper Roed Jensen is the vice president for Ideation and Partnering in Vestas – the largest wind turbine supplier in the world. Kasper holds a master’s degree in engineering, and has been engaged in various parts of the energy world from oil and gas into renewables where he has been working for the last 13 years on both the utility side and different turbine suppliers.
In his current position, Kasper is responsible for technologies and new business opportunities that will ensure that Vestas also in the future will claim the leading position within renewable energy as well as find partners both from academia  and industry that can aid that vision.

Ed began his career in 2001 as graduate indexer and abstractor in the team creating the Derwent World Patents Index. Ed moved in 2005 to the then-emerging field of professional patent analysis – leaning on the deep technical content embedded in worldwide patent information to answer big questions for innovators: Who is doing what? What is next? Where are we? This field developed into a multimillion-dollar business providing patent data-underpinned answers to audiences that need and appreciate them, while lacking the ability or time to perform it for themselves.

Ed has designed and fostered many of the metrics and visual styles in use today – strength scoring of patents, methods and models of identifying key emerging themes and those difficult-to-find new players, bringing the methods of the scientific bibliometric discipline across to patent datasets and applying all those techniques to datasets both huge and niche.

He has spent most of his career at Thomson Reuters and its divested IP and Science business: Clarivate Analytics. Ed spent 2 years leading the Analytics business of Landon IP/CPA Global before returning to Clarivate in 2018. In this time, he managed and built professional production teams and environments for the delivery of high quality, high accuracy work for clients large, small and governmental across almost all industry sectors.

Ed has a degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Nottingham, and in his early career specialized in the technical fields of instrumentation, measurement and plasma/particle physics.

Ton Dreves is CEO of SolidCity, a spin off subsidiary company of Equitec Holding. Ton holds a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is an driven entrepreneurial business man leading a group of companies with a focus on innovation. This group was founded by his father 35 years ago, of which he became the owner in 1996. He transformed the company structure into several  independent business-units, each with their own innovative specialism, their own customers and acting independently under their own brand names. Since last year, SolidCity is the new born company being part of this group structure. The mission of SolidCity is to create Smart Cities by enabling sustainable city growth with a more safe, secure and comfortable living environment for citizens.

Edel Sheridan Ph.D is a senior research scientist with over 15 years of experience in research of electrochemical systems with a particular focus on batteries including Li ion, Mg, Zinc-air and High temperature liquid metal batteries. She has worked on a host of industry and publicly funded projects with roles varying from laboratory researcher to manager. In recent years she has focused on strategic business development and is heavily involved in several European initiatives, including the preparation of the SET Plan Implementation Plan for Action 7. Edel’s employer SINTEF has very recently appointed her the role of Leader for Strategic Development – Batteries. Edel is a native English speaker, has good communication skills and enjoys working with diverse teams. She is motivated to see the establishment of a large-scale battery industry in Europe.

Sara founded Tempus Energy in 2012. Her background combines a financial markets systems risk career with energy system innovation. She is a Director of the Association of Decentralised Energy, a member of the High Level Group of i24C, the Industrial Innovation for Competitiveness initiative, a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Energy for the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council and an Innovation Ambassador for Innovate UK.

holds a PhD in industrial organisation and has been professor of economics at Paris-Dauphine University since 2002. The former international Vice-President of Paris-Dauphine, Patrice now heads a research centre in Energy and Climate Change Economics. His research deals with the convergence between electricity and telecommunications in the transition to low-carbon energy, with particular interest in the development of smart cities, smart electricity grids and the emergence of new organisations and new business models, with a recent focus on blockchain. He is co-editor of the journal Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Management and Network Economics. Patrice was a visiting professor at various foreign institutions, including Bocconi University (Milan), Fudan University (Shanghai), University of Tokyo (Todai) and Saint Joseph University (Beirut).

Since Mr. Aagaard was appointed CEO of the Danish Energy Association in 2009 his main focus has been on safeguarding the interests of the energy sector – and securing its position on the global market for energy technology solutions – a sector which will play a pivotal role in the struggle for implementing the ambitious political visions of becoming independent of fossil fuels in the years to come. Internationalisation of energy policy is a unifying principle in his work as well.

Communicating highly complex energy policy to a broad audience, politicians and journalists, in particular, is one of Mr. Aagaard’s skills and high priorities.

Mr. Aagaard has obtained his professional and technical knowledge through his MSc in Public Administration and through his management career as Head of Division in The Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, Climate and Energy section of DI Confederation of Danish Industry, and from 2006 to 2009 Vice President of the Danish Energy Association.

A graduate in Public Administration from Twente University, Marc helps private enterprises and knowledge institutes fulfill their ambitions and expand, to become important contributors to the Arnhem community.

His focus and experience lies in the fields of new energy and international relations.

In new energy he has worked in public / private endeavours to define and launch several network initiatives and programmes in the city and region-wide. Thanks to this cooperation, some of these ventures have attracted over 100 active participants over a period of several years, and each initiative has led to valuable learning experiences, the founding of new companies and new innovations that have enjoyed further development and attracted customers.

In international relations, he has focused on forging strong connections between Arnhem and Germany, EU markets and China. The results have been an EU region / city network, several EU network memberships, and a sister city relationship to Wuhan in central China; a city of more than 10 million inhabitants in one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Theresa Steininger is the CEO and co-founder of WOHNWAGON, a young company from Austria focusing on sustainable and independent living. The innovative team developed circular systems for the supply of living units that can work completely off the grid and still provide a high living comfort. Today the company has 23 employees, offering self-sustained tiny houses and consulting for independent supply in closed circulation systems. Theresa, studied marketing and business administration in Vienna.

Erik held several positions over the years, at Atlas Copco. He is an innovative and visionary leader committed to electrifying the mining world.

Jimmy Ördberg is VP Technology Management at Husqvarna Group AB where he drives the overall processes for early stage innovations across the different divisions, especially within battery drive systems and connectivity. He has previously held different management positions at Atlas Copco, General Motors and Saab Automobile, and was a council member of the Vehicle Research Program FFI, founded by the Swedish Government Authority Vinnova. Jimmy holds a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and an Executive Masters in Technology Management from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Lina Bertling Tjernberg is Professor in Power Grid Technology at KTH – the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. Her research aims to develop models for electric power solutions for the future sustainable energy system. Areas of special expertise are in applied reliability theory and maintenance management. She has previously been Professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sustainable Power System and the Head of the Power System Group, and with the Swedish National Grid as Director of the Research and Development. Dr. Bertling Tjernberg participates as an expert and adviser in government and industry and is active in various professional networks such as IVA and IEEE.

Josephine Zetterman is responsible for the Future Grids business at Siemens AB, which includes battery storage systems, systems for PV plants, e-mobility and on-shore power supply. She is also a member of the Swedish Smartgrid task force seeking to clarify Roles and Responsibility for flexibility in the energy system. Previously she completed the Siemens Graduate trainee-program with placements both in Sweden and abroad. Josephine is a Mechanical Engineer from Lund University, with a M.Sc. in Energy Technologies. Her Master’s thesis was done in collaboration with Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia, where she studied the possibilities for implementing hybrid renewable energy systems in remote locations.

Jorge Martinez is the Vice President, Market Development of Sentient Science, a global leader in life extension solutions for industrial assets, enabling Utilities/Electricity Operators and OEM’s to lower the cost of energy through disruptive technologies based on Digitalization and Materials Science.
Prior to joining Sentient Science, Jorge developed a 20-year international career covering various functions in the areas of R&D, Project Management, Product Development and Sales & Business Development in the Automotive and Renewable Energy sectors.
Jorge started his career at Renault as R&D Project Manager for engine design, then coordinating a full vehicle platform development from early design stages till full industrial roll-out. He later joined Alstom Wind where he was Director of Sales of Tendering for EMEA & Asia-Pacific, leading a €300M/yr P&L top-line and originating windpower projects worldwide. He later moved to GE Renewables where he managed several strategic projects across EMEA.
Jorge is a Mechanical Engineer from Universidad Pública de Navarra (Spain), with a Master in Energy Engineering from Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse (France). He also studied Political Sciences and holds an MBA from INSEAD Business School (France/Singapore).

Mars Geuze is Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder Hardt Hyperloop , the European company that brings sustainable high-speed transportation to the world that is faster than airplanes, yet more energy-efficient than trains. At Hardt, Geuze is responsible for the collaboration with stakeholders worldwide to develop hyperloop routes and standardise hyperloop technologies. Before co-founding Hardt Hyperloop, Geuze led the technical team of Delft Hyperloop, winning Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition by successfully testing the first hyperloop in cooperation with over 75 private and public partners. Geuze has been involved in the energy transition in the automotive sector for several years, leading a team in the development of the electrical system of an electric race car at DUT Racing. Geuze holds a B.Sc. degree in Applied Physics from the Technical University of Delft.

Christopher Burghardt is ChargePoint’s Managing Director for Europe, responsible for leading all aspects of the company’s European business. Chris joined ChargePoint from Uber where he was the head of policy and communications, EMEA. Prior to his role at Uber he led the global and emerging market expansion at First Solar, a provider of solar panels and utility-scale PV power plants. Other roles Chris has filled were as Vice President for Corporate Affairs for Western Europe at Anheuser-Busch InBev and as Vice President for Business Development and Marketing EMEA at Hill & Knowlton.

Chris holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from the College of Europe and a BA from the University of Sussex and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Aix-en-Provence. As a dual German/Belgian citizen, Chris is no stranger to Brussels as he grew up here for a part of his life and currently lives here with his wife and three young children.

Born in 1950, Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart studied Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University Munich and received a PhD in Material Science.

He worked for BMW for 23 years, starting as a design engineer and on course of his career was in charge of electronic development, body engineering and also vehicle line director of the BMW 3-series. He finished as a Member of the Board in charge of R&D and purchasing.

He then joined the German automotive supplier Continental, where he was in charge of the electronics and the brake business.

He then became CEO of German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon.

After retirement, he joined several boards, including ASML N.V. and Autoliv Inc. and he is chairman of the German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex SE. He was head of engineering at Jaguar Land Rover from 2013 – 15 and since then focusses on the development of JLR´s first electric vehicle, the I-Pace.

Ulrich Seitz is the Managing Director of BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures GmbH a corporate venture capital firm focusing on digital energy solutions, storage and e-mobility. With his educational background on Entrepreneurship and Company Building at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), he has first co-founded a technology company in the field of energy efficiency, worked many years as an Acceleration Coach and as Management Consultant, before becoming Managing Director at BayWa r.e. in 2017.

Dr. Hans Hubschneider founded PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG, Karlsruhe, in 1979 and was the CEO until 2011. Since then Dr. Hubschneider has been involved in the energy sector. In addition to active participation in start-ups in the fields of mobility and energy, he supports the InnoEnergy and the think tank “Internet der Energie” at the BDI (Federation of German Industries).

Since 2014 Dr. Hubschneider has been CEO of the regional energy network fokus.energie e.V., which bundles education, research and start-up support in the TechnologieRegion Karlsruhe. Since the end of 2017 fokus.energie has been operating the accelerator AXEL with local partners and with support from the state of Baden-Württemberg to support company start-ups in the energy sector.

Since March 2018 Dr. Wolf has been the Regional Manager of the Electric Power Research Institute based in Switzerland. EPRI conducts research, development, and demonstration projects on electricity generation, delivery, and use in the United States and internationally.

A physical chemist by training, Dr. Wolf conducted post-doctoral research in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, having earned a PhD in physical chemistry from the Ruprecht-Karls Universität in Heidelberg, Germany. In 2002 Dr. Wolf joined the Alstom Power Technology Center where in 2008 he became a Principal Engineer for chemical technologies, working on projects related to CCS, membranes, PV and energy storage.

From 2013-2016 he served as Technology Watch Manager in Alstom Open Innovation, responsible for technology scouting in the field of energy and thereby, representing Alstom in the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Program, the EU Zero-Emission Platform and other national and international R&D programmes.

From 2016 to 2018 he led Innovation & Roadmapping in GE Power Service, following market and technology trends, analysing future product needs and organising multi-year product and technology roadmaps.

Roger Harrabin, is the BBC’s Environment Analyst, and one of their senior journalists on the environment and energy. He has broadcast on environmental issues since the 1980s and has won many awards in print, TV and radio. Aside from his specialty he has covered many major general news stories. He is a Visiting Fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford, an Associate Press Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge and has received an Honorary Doctor of Science from Cranfield University.

In 2004, the BBC created the role of Environment Analyst so Harrabin could work across all media. He reported early on the uncertainty in climate forecasting and on geoengineering to combat climate change.

In 2007, he shared the Media Natura TV News award for films including a report from Bangladesh highlighting the need for climate adaptation; another revealing how China was building two power stations a week; and a third demonstrating the drive for the Chinese to increase energy production to tackle poverty. He also showed how some people in the West were blaming China for its emissions created during the manufacture of goods for export. Harrabin popularised discussions around these “embedded” emissions and showed that there were problems in all methodologies comparing international greenhouse gas emissions. In 2015, Harrabin’s report on renewable energy sources in Malawi , including a cook stove that charges mobile phones, reportedly pulled in 22 million hits.

Harrabin’s reporting is dominated by risk issues. He states that often major risk issues fail to fit news criteria of novelty, drama, conflict, personality and pictures. The media therefore provides prominence to statistically lower probability events such as MMR vaccine problems, dirty bombs, child abduction, transport safety, exotic diseases, the UK National Health Service “crisis”, the Brent Spar oil platform, nuclear power failures and genetic modification impacts. He argues that the media should find new ways of exploring long-term risk issues like preventative health and security of water, food, energy and climate, which can and will impact many more people’s lives.

Leen Govaerts has more than 15 years of experience in policy-oriented research on sustainable urban development. At present she is leading the research unit Smart Energy and Built Environment dealing with sustainable energy and urban sustainability. She represents VITO in the board of Energyville, a research association on sustainable energy and cities between VITO, KULeuven and IMEC.
She is involved in several international networks and has experience in coordinating several European research consortia (e.g. IEE, Framework program). She is recognized expert on behalf of the Flemish Government to evaluate sustainability aspects for granting subsidies for renewal of urban districts.

Jørgen Abilgaard is Project Director for the 2025 Carbon Neutral strategy and plan for the City of Copenhagen. He is an experienced project manager and strategic adviser who has worked on several projects in Denmark, Nordic Countries and internationally for companies, organisations and governmental administration. Jørgen has worked with a wide range of tasks within the energy and environment area such as energy planning and strategies, green growth, climate change, sustainability, the Kyoto mechanisms, the Nordic power market, renewable energy, energy efficiency, research and development, building regulations and investments in the energy sector.

From 2002 to 2010 Jørgen was director in the Nordic consultancy companies ECON and Poyry Management Consulting. Before that, Jørgen spent 2 years as special adviser for the former Danish Minister for Environment and Energy, Mr. Svend Auken and before that as adviser in several positions in the Danish Ministry for Energy.

Jørgen has a comprehensive experience from work within international organisations such as the United Nations, EU, IEA, the Nordic Council of Ministers and BASREC and he has an extensive national and international network.

Specialties include: Climate change, green growth, sustainability, energy planning and strategies, the Kyoto mechanisms, the Nordic power market, renewable energy, energy efficiency, investment, research and development, building regulations as well as strategy and planning in general.

Tim Naylor is a veteran in advanced Information Management and Analytics sectors and heads Envision Energy’s Digital business in EMEA. He has an Honours degree in Information Science from Otago University, an MBA from London Business School and 20 years leadership experience with Oracle EMEA.  For the past 4 years Tim has been helping global energy companies create advantage from digitalisation, where advances in Energy IoT, cloud computing, big data and machine learning are dramatically reshaping the energy value chain.  These advanced technologies are also creating opportunities for:

(i) reduced LCOE and system integration cost of renewables,

(ii) better predictions of weather, power, asset health and optimised O&M activities,

(iii) exciting new business models in power system flexibility, microgrids and intelligent infrastructure, and

(iv) the electrification of heating, lighting, buildings and e-mobility networks.

Giles Dickson is the CEO of WindEurope since 2015. Previously he ran global public affairs in Alstom and served 16 years as a UK Government civil servant.

Robert Rosner is a theoretical physicist, on the faculty of the University of Chicago since 1987, where he is the William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor in the departments of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics, as well as in the Enrico Fermi Institute, the Computation Institute, and the Harris School of Public Policy Studies. He served as Argonne National Laboratory’s Chief Scientist and Associate Laboratory Director for Physical, Biological and Computational Sciences (2002–2005), and was Argonne’s Laboratory Director from 2005–2009; he was the founding chair of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory Directors Council (2007–2009); and he is currently co-chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He was elected to the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (as a Foreign Member) in 2004; he is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Most of his scientific work has been related to fluid dynamics and plasma physics problems, as well as in applied mathematics and computational physics, especially in the development of modern high-performance computer simulation tools, with a particular interest in complex systems (ranging from astrophysical systems to nuclear fission reactors). He also serves as the chairperson of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist’s Science and Security Board.

Within the past few years, Mr. Rosner has been increasingly involved in energy technologies, and in the public policy issues that relate to the development and deployment of various energy production and consumption technologies, including especially nuclear energy, the electrification of transport, and energy use in urban environments. As an outgrowth of these interests, he co-founded the Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) at the University of Chicago, spanning the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, the Booth School of Business, and the Department of Economics. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001. He is a member of the American Academy’s Council and serves as co-chair of the Academy’s Global Nuclear Future Initiative.

Ronald Hopman (1959) studied chemistry (MSc) at the University of Utrecht. He started his career at KWR Water Cycle Research Institute, where he performed various functions in research, management and business development. Ronald initiated the business unit KWR Industries and Water, which focused on water challenges within the industry sector, through research programmes, platform groups and advisory projects.

In 2008 he joined the Veolia Group as Commercial Director and later as Managing Director of Veolia Water Netherlands, at that time partner in the only Public-Private Partnership in the Dutch water sector: Delfluent. In 2012 he made the move to Veolia Energy.

With the integration of Water, Energy and Waste activities and expertise within the One Veolia – Resourcing the World offer, Ronald has taken the role, since 2015, of Director of Business Development for Veolia Nederland.

Bernd Vogl, graduated from HTL (mechanical engineering) and from Vienna University for business economics.

From December 1992 till August 2011 Bernd Vogl was an energy expert in the Austrian Ministry of Environment with focus on green buildings and the development of passive houses and ecological building codes in Austria. From April 2006 till August 2011 he was co-leading the Department of Environmental Economics and Energy in the Ministry. He was involved in numerous national projects and programs dealing with energy efficient technologies and renewable energy sources. From 2004 till 2011 he was leading the Austrian climate protection initiative “klima:aktiv”.

Since September 2011 Bernd Vogl is leading the Municipal Department 20 – Energy Planning of the City of Vienna. The main task of the Department is the management and coordination of the Viennese energy programmes and strategic work with focus on decarbonisation of cities. In addition he has been working as a member of the supervisory board for the municipal energy supplier – one the largest energy companies in Austria – till 2016.

After having been director of experimentation at Paris & Co, the Paris Innovation and Attractiveness Agency, she is Chief Smart City Officer at the General Secretariat of the City of Paris, the role of the smart city mission is to accompany the city’s management and elected representatives in the implementation of the strategic plan “Intelligent and Sustainable Paris”

Nuria is Head of Planning at VCCP Madrid and Chair of the Account Planning Association’s Board (APG) in Spanish. She has worked in the past for global agencies such as Publicis, JWT and BBDO. Her experience ranges across a wide span of brands and industries such as Suzuki, Liberty Insurance, Cadbury’s, Freixenet and Pfizer. She also worked for several years as a Hispanic Market planner in Los Angeles.

Nuria studied Psychology and has a PhD in Communications. She is currently involved in academic research in the field of Cognitive Neuroscience applied to advertising, being a regular lecturer at the University of Barcelona Blanquerna-Ramon Llull and University Pompeu Fabra, having presented her work at congresses like ESOMAR.

She has judged at the main creative and effectiveness awards in Spain (Premios a la Eficacia, Festival El Sol, Club de Creativos, IAB) and in the Euro Effies Awards in 2017.

Nuria will unveil insights from a major piece of research carried out by VCCP on behalf of InnoEnergy in three major European countries on how consumers interact with and consume energy. She will also participate in a panel discussions on “Putting the consumer at the centre”.

Constantijn Christof Frederik Aschwin, Prince of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg, was born in Utrecht on 11 October 1969. He is the third son of Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus. The Prince has two brothers: King Willem-Alexander (born in 1967) and Prince Friso (1968-2013).

Education
The Prince received his primary education at the Nieuwe Baarnse School in Baarn and his secondary education at the Eerste Vrijzinnig Christelijk Lyceum in The Hague, where he gained his VWO (pre-university education) certificate in 1987. During the 1987/1988 academic year, Prince Constantijn attended language courses in France and Italy.

In 1995 he gained his master’s degree in law from Leiden University where he specialised in civil law. In 2000 he studied business economics at the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau (INSEAD).

Work
On 1 July 2016 Prince Constantijn was appointed Special Envoy for StartupDelta2020. The Prince will be at the helm of the successor to StartupDelta – with which he was closely involved as an advisor – for the next 18 months. Prince Constantijn is an independent adviser on corporate innovation and jointly initiated Startup Fest Europe, a five-day festival of events throughout the Netherlands. He is also Director of Digital Technology and Macro Strategy at Macro Advisory Partners in London. In January 2017 the Prince joined the 15-strong High Level Group of Innovators that advises the European Commission on improving Europe’s performance in breakthrough, market-creating innovation.

The Prince began his working life in the cabinet of the European Commissioner, Hans van den Broek. He then studied business economics at the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau (INSEAD) and had a work placement at the International Finance Corporation in Washington DC. The Prince went on to work as a management consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton in London and as a policy researcher for RAND Europe in Leiden and Brussels, where he was subsequently appointed head of the Information Policy and Economics Team. In 2008 Prince Constantijn set up the Brussels office of RAND Corporation, which he headed until 2010.

The Prince worked as an adviser on EU communications at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2008.

On 1 October 2015 Prince Constantijn was appointed temporary Edge Fellow at Deloitte’s Center for the Edge. In this position he advises on cooperation between the parties relevant to the innovation climate in the Netherlands and Europe.

Prof. Dr. Bertrand Piccard, Explorer, Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation

With his dual identity as a medical doctor and explorer, Bertrand Piccard has become an influential voice heard among the most distinguished institutions across the globe as a forward-thinking leader in progress and sustainability. He is independent, not affiliated to a particular party or lobbying group, and as such is a trusted adviser and influencer for the development of new societal solutions, and a very sought-after speaker for private and public audiences.

It is in Bertrand’s DNA to go beyond the obvious and achieve the impossible,as he did with his two round-the-world flights, recently in a solar-powered airplane, and before that non-stop in a balloon. The ocean depths and the stratosphere attracted his father and grandfather; the challenges of our time fascinate him. Rather than new territories, he wants to discover new ways of doing and thinking, in particular in the field of clean technologies for a better quality of life.
Bertrand is the initiator and visionary behind Solar Impulse, the very first airplane capable of flying perpetually without fuel. Taking turns at the controls with André Borschberg for the first flight around the world on solar power, his ambition is to leverage pioneering spirit for a useful contribution to the cause of renewable energies. This is why he spent the last 15 years bringing together the major partners providing technologies and funds for this adventure. Together with his wife Michèle, he conceived the Solar Impulse project as a now widely recognized platform to raise public awareness and encourage political actions in favour of clean technologies and energy efficiency, the next stage of which includes the establishment to this end of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions under the aegis of the Solar Impulse Foundation
The inspiration he received from other explorers and pioneers during his childhood gave him the desire to inspire young generations in return.

Since fall 2016 Ines heads as Investment Director the Strategic Co-Investments Essen office and steers the broader strategic investment roadmap of the team. She has joined the Strategic Co-Investment team in spring 2013. Her particular investment focus is on residential energy products and consumer facing solutions. Ines has started her E.ON career in 2008 by joining E.ON Inhouse Consulting. She has studied at the University of Passau and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She holds a diploma degree in cultural studies and business administration as well as a bachelor degree in economic science. When not at work Ines enjoys spending time with her family and friends and totally relaxes when doing hot yoga.

Tanmoy Bari Tanmoy is one of the co-founders of Swedish tech-startup Greenely and has been working as the CEO for 3+ years. Tanmoy was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 list 2016 and nominated for the Young Innovator Award during European Utility Week 2015.  He holds a degree in Civil Engineering & M.Sc. Sustainable Urban Planning and Design at KTH, Sweden.

Maroš Šefčovič is a Slovak diplomat and politician serving as the Vice-President of the European Commission for Inter-institutional Relations and Foresight, coordinating the Energy Union (EU Battery Alliance). From 2010 to 2014, he was the European Commissioner for Interinstitutional Relations and Administration, and for Energy from 2014 to 2019. He stood for office in the 2019 Slovak presidential election.

His area of responsibility includes leading the Energy Union, establishing a European Energy Union by connecting infrastructures, enforcing legislation and increasing competition to help drive down costs for citizens and businesses and boost growth, working to prevent energy shortages, diversifying sources of energy imports and ensuring a united European voice in negotiations to improve our energy security, helping to mobilise additional investment in power grids, renewable energy installations and other energy infrastructure, improving energy efficiency, and coordinating the Commission’s efforts to ensure the EU reaches its climate and energy targets for 2020 and 2030.

Candace Johnson is a global infrastructure, network and innovation expert and entrepreneur. She is co-initiator of SES/ASTRA for which she was named an Officer of the Luxembourg Oak Leaf Crown and architect of SES Global, one of the world’s largest satellite systems for which she was named Commander of the Luxembourg Order of Merit. She is also founding President of Europe Online Investments S.A., the world’s first internet-based online service and satellite broadband network, and founder of Loral Cyberstar-Teleport Europe, Europe’s first independent private trans-border satellite communications network for which she was named an Officer of the German Federal Order of Merit. Ms. Johnson has recently co-founded Oceania Women’s Network Satellite (OWNSAT). OWNSAT has become a founding investor in the Kacific Satellite System based in Singapore, where Ms. Johnson is also a Member of the Board. Ms. Johnson is also founding President of the VATM, the Association of Private Telecom Operators in Germany and founding President of the Global Telecom Women’s Network (GTWN). She has continued to be a long-time Member of the Board of Directors of all of these companies and organizations at various times throughout the years.

Ms. Johnson is also President of Johnson Paradigm Ventures (JPV) which is a principal founding shareholder with AXA, Caisse des Depots, Bayerische Landesbank, and the SPEF of Sophia Euro Lab, Europe’s first trans-border early-stage investment company based in Sophia Antipolis. JPV is also a principal founding shareholder in London-based Ariadne Capital, “Architecting Europe.net”, one of the earliest supporters and promoters of Skype, the global VoIP phenomenon. Ms. Johnson has served as Founding Member of the Boards of both companies.

In her personal capacity, Ms. Johnson is a Member of the Supervisory Boards of Garage Canada, Iris Capital (Europe) and was a founding member of Inovent (Turkey). Ms. Johnson is founding Member and was President of the Board of the Sophia Business Angels in Sophia Antipolis, France from 2006 – 2008 as well as founding president of three multi-million Euro investment vehicles, Succès Europe, Croissance Europe and Innovation Europe, together with Meeschaert Gestion Prive. Ms. Johnson is also Founding Member of the Cologne Business Angels, Galata Business Angels and Advisory Board of the Luxembourg Business Angels Network. Ms. Johnson was a minority owner of FMN, a German telephone manufacturing company, and a member of their Supervisory Council from 1993 – 2008. She was also a minority owner of Alpha Com, a wireless data manufacturing company.

Through her global investing activity, Ms. Johnson has widened her scope of expertise to include CleanTech and MedTech and has been actively involved in financing such companies as Nheolis, a unique home-turbine energy concept company, and CertiNergy, France’s first B2B2C energy-credit trading company as well as Quotient Diagnostic and AboDiag, life-sciences technology and services companies. In 2006, she created the Festival of the Fourth Dimension, the world’s first festival of the Arts, Technology, and Sciences, which has since become a major French government global initiative for Industrial Innovation and Creativity (Pole ICI) of which she became the 1st Vice President.

Ms. Johnson is a Non –Executive Director of SES-ESL, a publicly quoted corporation on the French Stock Exchange. She has also recently been re-elected as President of EBAN, the European Business Angel and Early-Stage Investment Network for a two-year term until 2018. Ms. Johnson is also the Co-Founder of ABAN, African Business Angels Network and MBAN, MENA Business Angels Network as well as the Global Business Angels Network (GBAN).

Ms. Johnson is also a member of the Advisory Board of numerous European and US ventures as well as being a Member of the Board of Governors of EDHEC, France’s largest business school, Sabanci University in Istanbul Turkey, and the International Board of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as well as being a Senior Enterprise Fellow for the University of Essex/LEEDS Program of the OECD. Recently, she has joined the International Innovation and Entrepreneurial Advisory Board of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia (KACST). Ms. Johnson is a well-known speaker on innovation and entrepreneurship for such companies as Alcatel-Lucent, Qatar Telecom, IBM, Hewlett Packard, etc. and has been a featured speaker at the Cambridge University Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and the OECD International Entrepreneurship Forums in Shanghai, Riga, and Cape Town.

Ms. Johnson was also Vice President Worldwide of Iridium and brought it into the GSM MoU, the ITU and ETSI as well as obtaining its global frequencies and country codes. She was Director of Marketing for the German manufacturing company FuBa and globalized its manufacturing and commercial activities.

Ms. Johnson has been featured in articles in Time Magazine, the Financial Times, the Economist, Le Monde, WirtschaftsWoche, Manager Magazin, Les Echos, and the International Herald Tribune to name a few. She has been decorated as Commander of the Luxembourg Order of Merit and Officer of the Couronne de la Chene as well as Officer of the Bundesverdienst Kreuz 1. Klasse (FRG) for her work in de-regulation, innovation, privatization, and globalization and the specific projects named above. Further, Ms. Johnson is the second recipient ever of the UN-sponsored World Teleport Associations’ “Founders Award”. Ms. Johnson has also received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” along with Vinton Cerf and Tim Berners Lee from the World Communication Awards, the prestigious global telecoms organization in 2002. Ms. Johnson has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The International Alliance of Women in 2012 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace Europe in 2016. Ms. Johnson holds Masters Degrees with Honors from the Sorbonne and Stanford Universities, a Bachelors Degree from Vassar College and her high-school degree from Punahou, Honolulu, Hawaii. On November 12th 2016 she was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Jean-David Malo studied in the Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (Paris) and the University of California (Berkeley). He started his career as Head of internal control management in the Comité Professionnel de la Distribution de Carburants in France before joining ARMINES, a body managing contractual research and innovation for French engineering schools (Ecoles des MInes, Ecole Polytechnique, ENSTA, …), where he created, developed and managed the European Affairs Directorate. He joined the European Commission in January 2001. In the Directorate General for Research, he participated actively to a number of developments on the design of funding instruments, rules for participation, funding schemes, etc, both for FP6 and FP7. From 2003 to 2006, he was the assistant of Director Robert-Jan SMITS. After heading the unit in charge of the regional aspects of FP7, ie. the “Regions of Knowledge” and “Research Potential” programmes, from 2006 to 2010, he was managing from 2011 to 2013 a newly created unit in DG Research and Innovation, the main objective of which was to contribute to increase private finance and close market gaps in investing in research and innovation by expanding the scope and scale of existing EU innovative financial instruments (like the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility) and by developing new ones in the fields of debt (including guarantees) and equity financing, notably in the context of Horizon 2020 (“InnovFin”). The EU state aid framework, tax incentive schemes and philanthropic funding were also areas covered by the work of the unit. From 2014, this unit was also covering the SMEs dimension of Horizon 2020, including in particular EUROSTARS II and the design and coordination of the SME Instrument and the Fast Track to Innovation pilot. On February 2017 he has been appointed as Director of the Directorate in charge of “Open Innovation and Open Science”. The European Innovation Council, the Pan-European Venture Capital Fund(s)-of-Funds Programme, the RDI dimension under the European Fund for Strategic investments, the European Open Science Cloud, the long-term sustainable investments for Research Infrastructures, the monitoring of the ERA Roadmaps, etc… are among the various files he is in charge of or contributing to.

CEO, Cornis

Editor-in-chief. Energy Post

CEO – LECLANCHÉ

Energy and IT Innovator

CEO, First Energy Finance

From material scientist at the service of power generation (nuclear and fossil) and distribution, Valery evolved to international collaboration and leverage. He co-founded NUGENIA, an international collaborative initiative with over 110 members from 28 countries, and I2US, a corporate innovation to business acceleration vehicle founded with key Silicon Valley and European stakeholders and currently in a process of expansion.

Valery spent 2 years in Japan and 8 years in the States, working in the start-up American Superconductor and in Bicron, part of Saint-Gobain High Performance Materials. He spent time as EDF Open Innovation Director for North America based in San Francisco, and then in a similar role in Paris, covering Europe and the Middle East. There he serves the whole EDF Group, a world leader in low carbon energy that in its diverse geographies and business lines is dedicated to building mutually exclusive opportunities between EDF and start-ups.

Valery remains active in the energy sector, co-founding and managing two micro-hydro companies. He has also taken an active role in politics and has been mayor of a French village in Champagne for 6 years.

Chief Innovation Officer, innogy SE, innogy Innovation Hub

Co-author of Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth

Peter Carlsson is the founder and CEO of Northvolt, a company building Europe’s largest battery manufacturing plant, and part of several advisory boards for global supply chain and procurement organisations. Having worked in executive roles for more than 20 years in Automotive, Cleantech, Telecommunications, Consumer Electronics and Semiconductor industries, in global organizations in Europe, US and Asia, he’s known as an entrepreneur, angel investor and advisor.

With Northvolt, he’s made it his personal mission to build the greenest battery in the world with a minimal carbon footprint and the highest ambitions for recycling to enable the European transition to renewable energy. In 2017, Northvolt announced a bold and simple plan: to enable the future of energy by developing the world’s greenest battery cell, and establish a European supply of batteries.

Laurent Yana graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris. He went on to work in the  IT Department at EDF-GDF, which was followed by his role of  Head Pricing in the Marketing Division of Gaz de France. From 1994-2006 he held various positions in Gaz de France, including Head of Transit and Sales (Gas Purchase Division), Deputy Managing Director (Regional Gas and Power Distribution), Project  Director M&A (International Division) and Head of Department (Strategy Division). From 2008, Laurent Yana was Vice President of Strategy at GDF SUEZ. Presently he is the Director and Advisor of Global Bus, Strategy Division at ENGIE.

Tomas Kåberger currently spends a quarter of his time in Japan as Executive Board Chairman of Renewable Energy Institute. Academically, he got an MSc in Engineering Physics, a PhD in Physical Resource Theory, and Docent in Environmental Science at Chalmers. He has been professor in International Sustainable Energy Systems at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University, and he is currently Professor of Industrial Energy Policy at Chalmers University of Technology and serves as Distinguished Visiting Expert of bio-energy technology at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou.

Industrially, he has had leading roles in companies providing fuels and technology in the bio-energy industry, another company developing sustainable energy solutions for the automotive industry, and a company operating wind power plants. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Vattenfall, and the board of Industrifonden, an industrial investment foundation. Politically, he has served on board of Swedish and European Environmental Citizen’s organizations, several Swedish Government Commit tees developing energy and environmental legislation, and China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development as a member of a task force on Low-Carbon Industrialization Strategies. From 2008 until 2011 he was Director General of the National Swedish Energy Agency.

A devout tech evangelist, I have dedicated the last 20 years to bringing tech led innovation to some of the largest organizations across the globe. My commitment has been to helping companies “Renew” their world through digitization whilst creating “New” frontiers so they can be the first to disrupt their own industry.

An ardent advocate of Machine Learning and A.I, I have been spearheading the development of new platforms in the world of Energy and Services to leverage their data – the new oil of the 21st century. My passion to revolutionise these sectors through A.I. has lead me to the development of systems that are now crunching offshore oil rig data, which is foreseeing system failures in real time. And machine learning systems that have crunched 25 years of Tennis sensor data, giving us the power to showcase player’s technical and character trends, leading us to be able predicting outcomes.

Digitizing companies, I have worked on the automation of business processes for a Fortune 100 electric utility, cash management and payments hub for an investment bank and digitizing the world of sports to engage and add value to the fans whilst monetizing this engagement for the client. Disrupting industries, I am working on the application of Deep Reinforcement Learning through sensor data to create a real-time virtual tennis coach, an Uber like platform for real-time staffing and a social media sentiment platform for the oil and gas industry, providing a global and local insight into trends, news, opinion leaders and talking points to the leaders and policy makers in the industry.

Dr. Christian Chudoba is CEO and co-founder of Lumenaza. He graduated in Physics at the Humboldt University in Berlin and did research at the Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT). Coming back to Germany he worked intensively on highly scalable software for telecommunications and utilities at Siemens. There, he led the solution business for billing and customer care software. To actively promote the energy revolution, he founded the Lumenaza GmbH together with Dr. Bernhard Böhmer in 2013.

John has been a consultant to the industry for over 20 years and is the global head of Frost & Sullivan’s Energy & Environment business. Focused  on visionary innovation and market transformation, John is a thought leader in the fields of Power Generation, Renewable Energy, Environment, Smart Grids and Buildings (including energy efficiency, energy management, smart buildings, lighting and facility management). John’s personal focus in the energy arena revolves particularly around the role of energy management, new business models, utility transformation and advanced technology in driving sustainability and business productivity.

Sylvain Paineau is with Schneider Electric since 2004 where he is in charge of managing innovation partnerships in Strategy & Technology corporate organisation (projects portfolio, incubator, start-up relationships and R&D partnerships. He is also coordinating strategic cooperation between Schneider Electric and a major European research centre.  He held several innovation management positions in the industry during these last 25 years and managed several R&D European projects.  He was in charge of MEMS lab in Thales (1997-2001) and more recently Marketing and Technical Director of PHS MEMS (2001-2004) a start-up in MEMS foundry business.  Sylvain Paineau holds an optronic engineering degree from Paris XI University.

Laurence Duyck is currently in charge of the open innovation initiative by Veolia focused on startups, SMEs and entrepreneurs. She is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and managing the integration of external innovative solutions in close connection with Strategy, Marketing, Business development and Business unit teams. Veolia is a leading company delivering services in water, waste and energy fields.

Before joining the field of innovation, Laurence had 20 years of experience in environmental topics management through various positions in the industrial area (risk studies and management, due diligences, remediation).

Luis Manuel has held this position since January 2008 with responsibilities that include company management and defining EDP group innovation strategy.

He is a board member of EDP Ventures (since 2008), CEO (since 2009), Windplus (since 2009), Arquiled (since 2010), all in the scope of his job assignment with EDP Inovação S.A..

He worked for 2 years at Explorer Investments, the largest private equity firm in Portugal and for 6 years in the strategy and business portfolio department of the holding of the Galp Energia group (the largest Portuguese oil and gas group). Prior to that, he worked at Espírito Santo Investment, in the project finance advisory department in Lisbon, and in the corporate finance department in Portugal and Brazil.

As member of the Ministry of Economy during the XVI Portuguese Constitutional Government, he assisted the Undersecretary for Economic Development with oversight responsibility over several privatisation processes in the energy sector, as well as in the process of defining the three major laws regulating the Portuguese energy sector (“Leis de Base” of the oil, natural gas and electricity sectors).

Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago-Concha  is Country Manager for Spain and Portugal at BlaBlaCar, the leading European ridesharing community that connects drivers with empty seats and people traveling the same way, so they can share their cost. Fascinated with technology since his childhood, Jaime has developed his career around it. He holds a Telecommunication Engineering degree from the Polytechnical Engineering University of Madrid and has been linked to the technological entrepreneurial field from the beginning of his career. Prior to joining BlaBlaCar on 2013 as Marketing Manager for the Spanish Market, he researched new ways of applying technology to education at the university, joined a high-tech startup working on big data for the telecommunications industry (Zhilabs) and founded his own user generated content based company (6cero). Jaime is a regular speaker in both national and international conferences, media and masters on the themes of Collaborative Economy, entrepreneurship and Online Marketing.

Gonzalo de Mendoza Asensi is a member of the Cabinet of the Commission for Climate Action and Energy. He is responsible for Energy projects and interconnections, relations with the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. His area of competence within the Cabinet includes energy interconnections, shale gas, oil and coal research, science and innovation, nuclear energy and nuclear safeguards.