11th European Innovation Summit

Angelova-Krasteva, Antoaneta

Director, DG EAC, European Commission

Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, Director for Innovation, International Cooperation and Sport at DG EAC since 1 October 2016. Her current job include, amongst other things, also responsibilities for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, which are part of Horizon 2020, the EU Research and Innovation programme (2014 – 2020). Joining the European Commission in 2008, firstly in DG Justice, Liberty and Security Antoaneta was dealing with external relations and enlargement. Then she worked at DG HOME on internal security and police cooperation before becoming Head of Unit at DG CONNECT where, from 2011 – 2016, she was responsible for cyber security, stakeholder relations and international affairs. Prior to working for the European Commission, she worked on Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in the field of justice and home affairs. A graduate in political science of Sofia University, Antoaneta has also acquired training and qualifications in democracy and governance matters, and European studies in Germany (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung) and the UK (Sussex University). She has also gained valuable professional experience from working for NGOs active on legal and political matters. Joining the European Commission in 2008, firstly in DG Justice, Liberty and Security Antoaneta was dealing with external relations and enlargement. Then she worked at DG HOME on internal security and police cooperation before becoming Head of Unit at DG CONNECT where, from 2011 – 2016, she was responsible for cyber security, stakeholder relations and international affairs. Prior to working for the European Commission, she worked on Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in the field of justice and home affairs. A graduate in political science of Sofia University, Antoaneta has also acquired training and qualifications in democracy and governance matters, and European studies in Germany (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung) and the UK (Sussex University). She has also gained valuable professional experience from working for NGOs active on legal and political matters

Georgoulias, Konstantinos

Director of EU Affairs and RIS, EIT Manufacturing

Dr. Konstantinos Georgoulias is the Director of EU Affairs and RIS of EIT Manufacturing. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics and has been actively involved in research and innovation activities from 2002. He has been working on a variety of technical topics, focused on the fields of production planning, flexibility and change management, mass customization, operational planning, networked manufacturing and circular economy. He has been involved in several European R&D&I projects, contributing to technological advancement and to the development of innovative solutions, cooperating with major automotive and aerospace companies, as well as with several companies from various other industrial sectors (e.g. footwear industry, commercial refrigeration, manufacturing equipment, furniture, etc). He has given many scientific and technical presentations in large International Workshops and Conferences and has more than thirty publications, including invited keynote articles and speeches

Kern, Martin

Director, EIT

Martin Kern was the Interim Director and Chief Operating Officer at the EIT from 1 August 2014 until his appointment as Director by the EIT Governing Board on 23 August 2019. Prior to joining the EIT, he worked at the European Commission for 15 years in a variety of posts, mainly in the area of enlargement policy and with financial assistance to support economic and social development programmes. Working for the EU, he held a variety of positions, the latest being Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to Serbia where he coordinated the programming and implementation of EU funds to bring Serbia closer to EU accession and among many issues, he led the EU’s rapid response following the disastrous floods in Serbia in May 2014. Previously, he worked as country coordinator for financial assistance for the Turkey team in the European Commission’s DG Enlargement. In 2009, he was seconded to the Swedish Foreign Ministry in Stockholm during their EU Presidency by the European Commission. He started his career in the EU in Lithuania and Estonia, working in the EU Delegations and helping the two countries join the EU and ending his six years in the Baltic States as Acting Head of the EU Representation in Tallinn. Following the accession of the 10 new Member States to the EU in 2004, he continued working on financial assistance, dealing, among other things, with the follow-up in the use of EU funds in Bulgaria and Romania around the time of their accession. He began his career after a brief stint at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva, and has Master's degrees in Economics and English from the University of Heidelberg and in European Studies from the University of Reading.

Klossek, Andreas

Interim CEO, COO, Managing Director, EIT RawMaterials

Dr Andreas Klossek is the Interim CEO, COO and Managing Director of EIT RawMaterials, a Knowledge and Innovation Community supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union. Dr Andreas Klossek holds a PhD in International Management from TU Bergakademie Freiberg and has worked extensively in the metals and minerals sector by leading projects on Innovation managements, strategy development, economics and evaluation and successful acquisition of large project funds. Prior to joining EIT RawMaterials Andreas was head of the division of Helmholtz Institute Freiberg, German think Tank for R&D in metals and minerals sector.

Menna, Federico

Head of Innovation and Education Operations, EIT Digital

Federico Menna is the Head of Innovation and Education Operations at EIT Digital. He joined the organization in 2015 and before being appointed as the Head of Innovation and Education Operations, he worked as Innovation Analyst at the EIT Digital Headquarters in Brussels. Prior to joining EIT Digital, he worked for 8 years for Vodafone Group, dealing with the launch of new mobile technologies to the market. He has a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Trento, Italy.

Pavia, Diego

CEO, EIT KIC InnoEnergy

Diego Pavía graduated as electrical engineer, specialising in electronics and automation from the Polytechnical University of Madrid. His first professional experience, in 1988, was as co-founder and CEO of a start-up called: Knowledge Engineering. The start-up dealt with industrial controls systems using artificial intelligence and neural networks. Three years later he joined Sema Group (shortly after renamed: SchlumbergerSema), and started a long career with private companies. At SchlumbergerSema, Diego headed multicultural working groups all over the world in the field of energy, with revenues of $650M. Between 2002 and 2010, Diego was the CEO of Atos Origin, a leading international IT service provider, where he was responsible for Spain and South America, about 9,000 employees, and an annual turnover of €450M. Diego has been CEO of InnoEnergy, since 2010. As a serial entrepreneur, Diego has created seven companies in his lifetime.

Spence-Jackson, Helen

Head of EU Affairs, EIT Climate-KIC

Helen Spence-Jackson is Head of EU Affairs at EIT Climate-KIC. Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, EIT Climate-KIC is a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy by identifying and supporting innovation that helps society mitigate and adapt to climate change. Prior to joining EIT Climate-KIC in 2017, Helen worked for the EU office of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, where she managed the EU Green Growth Platform and the EU Corporate Leaders Group. Earlier in her career she worked for a variety of regional and local government organisations.

Baldan, Annarita

Chair of EURAMET\'s European Metrology Network for Energy Gases

Annarita Baldan is the principal scientist at VSL, the Dutch Metrology Institute. For the past 20 years, she has worked in the field of metrology for chemistry. Her research is devoted to gas analysis, and specifically, to developing the metrological infrastructure needed to address the grand challenges facing energy, the environment and the climate. Among her many achievements, Annarita has developed primary reference gas mixtures containing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at trace concentration levels, by using gravimetric and dynamic primary techniques. In addition, she is a member of several standardisation bodies – including the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) group ISO/TC158 for ‘Gas Analysis’. Annarita has also been the coordinator of several successful research projects under the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP).

Berlijn, Sonja

Senior VP R&D of Statnett, the Transmission System Operator of Norway

As the central system operator in the Norwegian energy system, Statnett is an important stakeholder of EURAMET’s European Metrology Network for Smart Electricity Grids. Statnett coordinates the production & consumption of electricity and develops electricity grids all across Norway – in addition to overseeing the power line connections from Norway to Sweden, Finland, Russia, Denmark and the Netherlands. Sonja Berlijn is the Senior Vice President of Research & Development at Statnett – a position that she has held since 2014. She has vast documented experience in project management, research & development, quality assurance, teaching and leadership. To present an accurate view of Sonja’s expansive academic background in engineering and project management, she has studied electrotechnical engineering to PhD level in Austria and also obtained an MBA from the University of Melbourne. During her time at university, Sonja additionally worked in a couple of European high voltage laboratories; from managing the research & development at a laboratory in the Netherlands, to undertaking various management and specialist engineer roles at a testing laboratory in Sweden. In 2008, she moved to Statnett, where she has continually played a significant role in coordinating the advancement of Norway’s energy system as the Research & Development Senior VP. In 2014, Sonja joined also the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Oslo, Norway as a Professor of Digital Power Systems; where she supervised several students and presented sessions at international forums. As well as her position for Statnett and NMBU, Sonja is presently the Chair of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity - the Research, Development & Innovation Planning Committee. Furthermore, she is an active member of the Norwegian Smart Grid Centre, Energi21 (a strategic research board of the Norwegian government) sustainable power laboratory at the Royal Technical University in Stockholm and the Nordic Transmission System Operators R&D group.

Bogovič, Franc

Member of the European Parliament

Born on 2nd February 1963 in Koprivnica, Slovenia, Franc Bogovič graduated from the Agronomy College in 1984 and became an Agricultural Engineer. His professional career constitutes of several different posts, such as agricultural extension expert, agricultural trade entrepreneur, Mayor of Krško Municipality, member of Slovenian National Assembly and Minister of Agriculture and Environment. On 2 March 2013, Bogovič was elected President of the Slovene People’s Party, the position he held until 6th December 2014. Bogovič is currently serving his second term as a Member of the European Parliament, where he is engaged in topics related to agriculture, rural and regional development, cohesion policy, as well as environment and energy. Bogovič is also leading the Smart Villages initiative in the European Parliament. With ensuring EU funding of pilot projects and preparatory actions on Smart villages in the last few years, Bogovič is working closely with the European Commission so that Smart Villages are going to become a significant part of the future EU regional and rural development policy.

Carre, Martine

Scientific Director Analysis at Air Liquide, France

Air Liquide is a world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health. It strives to lead its industry in supporting energy and environmental transitions, changes in healthcare, and advancements in digital technologies. Air Liquide’s activities are centred around essential small molecules, like oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. The company’s large international presence makes it a key stakeholder of the European Metrology Network for Energy Gases. Martine Carré is the Scientific Director of Analysis at Air Liquide. In this role, she leads the analysis teams at Air Liquide’s innovation campuses around the world. Her current interests are centred around the development of international measurement standards for more effective control over the quality of energy gases. She is also actively involved in standardisation activities and committees within European standard organisations like CEN, that are related to hydrogen, biogas and gas mixture preparation. Through her studies and past roles, Martine has developed a breadth of knowledge of energy gases and their analysis. She obtained her PhD in the field of elemental analysis at Lyon University in France, after which she joined the Air Liquide research & development team to work on the analytic control of electronic speciality gases. For the past 25 years, Martine has worked in the field of gas analysis and metrology, both in research & development and industrial operations. She was additionally nominated as the Air Liquide Senior International Expert for Analysis in 2011.

CONSTANTINESCU, TUDOR

Principal Adviser to Director General (DG ENER), European Commission

Dr Tudor Constantinescu is Principal Adviser to the Director General for Energy in the European Commission. He is engineer and economist by education. Before joining the Commission, he set up as Executive Director the Buildings Performance Institute Europe. He was the president of the Romanian Agency for Energy Conservation and for the period 2008-2009 he ensured the presidency of the EnR network of European Energy Agencies. Between 1996-2007, he coordinated the energy efficiency and related environmental activities of the Energy Charter Secretariat in Brussels.

Rietveld, Gert

Chair of EURAMET\'s European Metrology Network for Smart Electricity Grids

Gert Rietveld is the Chair of the European Metrology Network for Smart Electricity Grids, which has been recently launched under EURAMET. This network aims to help Europe with meeting its sustainability and climate change goals, in addition to supporting the development of future energy systems. Gert Rietveld is the Chief Metrologist at VSL, the Dutch Metrology Institute - working in the area of smart electricity grids. Following his PhD in the field of solid state physics at Delft University of Technology, Gert joined VSL in 1993 to work on electrical quantum standards for resistance and current. His current research interests cover the breadth of electromagnetic precision metrology, focusing on power and energy measurements to support Europe’s energy transition and implementation of smart electricity grids. Gert has been active in the EURAMET community for more than 20 years. Amongst his several responsibilities, he was founding chair of the Subcommittee on Power and Energy and the convenor of the EURAMET Energy Task Group. Gert is additionally a member of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) and the President of its Consultative Committee for Electricity and Magnetism. Within the CIPM, he presently coordinates the development of an international strategy for measurement, helping to tackle grand societal challenges.

Baret, Jean-Christophe

Professor and Research Group Leaderm Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS & IUF

Jean-Christophe Baret obtained his PhD from the University of Twente (NL) in 2005. After a post-doc at ISIS, Strasbourg (F), the institute of J.M. Lehn, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Goettingen (D) as an independent group leader. In 2013 he obtained an ERC Starting Grant to develop new microfluidic tools for micro-compartmentalization. He joined the University of Bordeaux (F) as a full professor in 2014 and was appointed Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France in 2016. He is the laureate of an ERC Proof of Concept grant which led to the creation of the company Emulseo launched in 2018. Emulseo develops formulations for industrial applications of the droplet-based microfluidics technology. He is a recognized expert in microfluidics, serving as Editor of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics (Springer-Nature) and as Advisory Board Member of Lab on a Chip (RSC). His research activities now focus on microfluidics for bottom-up synthetic biology and he currently coordinates the build-up of the new Research Program Frontiers of Life at the Univ. Bordeaux which regroups local activities in the fields related to synthetic biology from molecules to regenerative medicine.

Pontani, Léa-Lætitia

Research Scientist, CNRS, Jean Perrin Laboratory, Sorbonne University, Paris

Lea-Laetitia Pontani is interested in studying the mechanical properties of cells and tissues in simplified biomimetic frameworks. For instance, during her PhD in the group of Dr. Cécile Sykes at the Curie Institute, she built and characterized a biomimetic system of the actin cytoskeleton in vitro. For her post-doc she joined the group of Jasna Brujic within the Center for Soft Matter Research at New York University. She first investigated the physics of jammed matter through confocal imaging of dense emulsions and then designed biomimetic emulsions that mimic multicellular assemblies such as biological tissues. Eventually, these biomimetic emulsions became a widely used platform in the center and are now used for various purposes, such as directed self-assembly of DNA functionalized emulsions. For her research at the Jean Perrin Laboratory she seeks to understand the physical basis of collective remodeling in biological tissues by studying the response of these biomimetic emulsions under mechanical constraints. She also studies mechanosensitive pathways in tissues at the microscopic level by developing biomimetic mechanosensitive cells and tissues. In these systems she studies the propagation of molecular probes and resulting patterning as a function of the applied mechanical forces.

Schwille, Petra

Director, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

Petra Schwille studied physics in Stuttgart and Göttingen and obtained her PhD in 1996 with Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen at the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. After a postdoctoral stay at Cornell University (Ithaca, USA) she established a research group at the MPI Göttingen in 1999 and accepted a call as professor and chair of biophysics at the BIOTEC of the TU Dresden in 2002. In 2011, she was appointed as scientific member of the Max Planck Society and director at the MPI of Biochemistry, Martinsried. Her research interests range from single-molecule biophysics to bottom-up synthetic biology of artificial cells.

Thole, Esther

Science journalist and writer

Author of Creators of Life (original NL: Makers van Leven), Maven Publishing (2018). In her book, editor Esther Thole describes how scientists build structures on the nano-scale towards hierarchically ordered materials or building blocks for life.

Borghini, Carlo

Executive Director, Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking

Mr Carlo Borghini is responsible for the overall management of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking activities since he took up the position of Executive Director in February 2016. Prior to this posting, Mr Borghini held senior management positions in different domains in private and international organisations, at corporate level. He was the Deputy Executive Director for the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) in Brussels from 2008 to 2014, and prior to this was Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised Agency of the United Nations based in Rome. Mr Borghini holds a Master’s Degree equivalent in Business Economics and speaks Italian, French and English. He is married with three children.

Citroën, Philippe

Director General, UNIFE - The European Rail Industry

Philippe Citroën joined UNIFE in 2011 as Director General. He began his career as Transport Advisor at the French Permanent Representation to the EU and then became Member of the Cabinet of the French Transport Minister. In 1993 he became Manager and Chief of Staff at RATP Paris, and joined the SNCF as Strategy Director in 1999. Prior to assuming his position at UNIFE, he served for 8 years as CEO of Systra, one of the world’s leading public transport engineering companies. P. Citroën is a graduate of Paris II University in Public Law, holds a Diploma from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) and also studied at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA), where he also lectured about Rail and Urban Transport.

Parrondo, Alberto

Chairman, ERRAC

Alberto Parrondo, from Madrid (Spain), with over 30-years’ experience in the areas of Transport, Defense, Aerospace, Security and Banking and a master degree in Mathematics (Operations Research) from Madrid University, holds also a PDG (General Management Programme) from the IESE Business School. He was elected as ERRAC (European Rail Research Advisory Board, a European Technology Platform advising the EC on Rail Innovation and Research) Chairman in May 2018. He was appointed in February 2017 as Vice President Strategy, Ground Transportation Systems for THALES. In April 2013 he was appointed as Vice President, Integrated Communications & Supervision (ICS) Systems in Ground Transportation Systems Global Business Unit for THALES. He is member of the Board of several THALES companies worldwide (Thales España, Thales Programas de Seguridad, Thales Portugal, Thales Security Systems…). He was Thales Spain Country Director (2008-2013) Parrondo is in charge of the Strategy of the worldwide Ground Transportation activities for THALES, including the Signalling, Telecommunications, Supervision and Ticketintg for Urban and Main Lines. Parrondo is Honorary Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid, Mathematic Faculty, where he taught from 2004 Dynamic Programming, Mathematical Programming, Statistical Inference, Game Theory, Graph Theory, Combinatorial Optimization.

Benifei, Brando

Member of the European Parliament

Brando Benifei, 31, European Federalist, is one of the youngest MEPs and is from La Spezia, Italy. He has been chair of European affairs for the Young Democrats and Vice-President of ECOSY (youth organization of PES) for 4 years and was part of the PES working group which originally drafted the European Youth Guarantee. His main fields of legislative work in the EP are Employment and social affairs and Foreign affairs. He is co-chair of the Youth Intergroup and vice-chair of the Disability Intergroup. Among his parliamentary activities in the Committee of Employment and Social Affairs, he was responsible for key legislative and non-legislative reports on the social inclusion and integration of refugees into the EU labour market; youth employment policy such as the Youth Guarantee and the Youth Employment Initiative; digitalisation and rights of persons with disability.

Beylat, Jean-Luc

Vice President Global Innovation Ecosystem Partnership at Nokia Bell Labs President of Nokia Bell Labs France

Jean-Luc Beylat is Vice President Global Innovation Ecosystem Partnership at Nokia Bell Labs, President of Nokia Bell Labs France, he is member of the Senior Leadership Team of Bell Labs. He is also Chairman of the Business Cluster “Systematic Paris–Region” which boasts +900 members and more than €3.6 billion invested in research and development. Jean-Luc Beylat was also elected as president of the French Association for Competitiveness Clusters (AFPC) and Chairman of the Association Bernard Gregory (ABG), an association devoted to PhDs in France. Jean-Luc first joined Alcatel in 1984, working on semiconductor lasers for seven years at Alcatel’s research Centre in Marcoussis (France). In 1992 he launched various projects concerning WDM transmission which led to an increase in Internet speed by a factor 100, and in 1996 he was appointed Director of the Department of Systems and Optical Networking Research Center, responsible globally for research in terrestrial and submarine transmission. In 2000, he rejoined Alcatel Optic as Program Director then as Vice President for Network Solutions, before finally in 2003 being named as VP in Charge of Partnership Programs at the Alcatel corporate CTO office. Jean-Luc holds a doctorate in physics on semi-conductor lasers and their applications, awarded by the University of Pierre Marie Curie (France), now named Sorbonne University. He is a member of the Board of IRT SystemX, the Board of Administrators of the Paris-Region Enterprise, the board of the PPP Photonic 21. Finally, he co-founded and chaired the organizing committee of Prix Jean Jerphagnon. He co-chaired, with Pierre Tambourin, the report "L‘innovation, un enjeu majeur pour la France" delivered to the French government in April 2013 and 2 other reports for the French government delivered in 2017, one about IP done by public research and the other one about proposals for the Revision of the Allègre law (proposals were introduced in the PACTE law in 2019).

Crean, Gabriel

Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on Innovation and Industrial Policy

Prof. Dr. Crean is an advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy of Luxembourg on research, innovation and the data economy. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Lux Consulting Group, a boutique firm providing advisory and management consulting services on issues at the intersection of deep technology, innovation management, the digital economy and geopolitics. Prof. Crean is deeply involved in the European digital transformation policy agenda and participates on several high level European strategic bodies. He is a board member of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking, an EU-driven, €5billion public-private partnership, funding innovation in electronic components and systems. He is a member of the joint European Commission and Member States High Level Group on Digitising European Industry and Artificial Intelligence. He actively participated in the recent creation of the new €2.3 Billion EuroHPC High Performance Computing (HPC) Joint Undertaking, with its headquarters located in Luxembourg. Prof. Crean has a unique deep technology management experience, previously holding Chief Scientist and Vice-President for Technology executive positions, in CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), one of the world’s leading technological research organisations. He has led national research technology organisations in France, Ireland and Luxembourg. He has co-founded and chaired three deep technology venture capital backed companies. Prof. Crean is an internationally recognized thought leader and influencer, reflected in his election as a President of the International Union of Materials Research Societies, an Academician of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Academic Fellow of the European Political Centre. Prof. Crean holds a doctorate in Materials Sciences from the Université Grenoble Alpes and, received an honorary doctorate from the Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland for his contribution to promoting European research and innovation initiatives.

Haschke, Michael

DMT Manager R&D, EurGeol

Michael is the Research & Innovation Manager at DMT Group with 25 years of experience in innovation, mineral resource management and business development in the mining industry. He holds a doctoral degree with distinction from the FU Berlin (Germany) and an MSc degree from University of Albany, NY (USA). Michael has previously worked as Mining Consultant for the General Atomics Group Europe, and as Associate and Guest Professor at Universities in USA, UK, South Africa, Israel and Germany with more than 50 publications.

Hoos, Holger

Professor of Machine Learning, Leiden University, lead author of the European Vision on AI, CLAIRE initiative

Holger H. Hoos is Professor of Machine Learning at Universiteit Leiden (the Netherlands) and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia (Canada), where he also holds an appointment as Faculty Associate at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. He is a Fellow of AAAI and past president of the Canadian Association for Artificial Intelligence (CAIAC). Holger's research interests span artificial intelligence, empirical algorithmics, bioinformatics and computer music. Known for his work on machine learning and optimisation methods for the automated design of high-performance algorithms and on stochastic local search, he has developed - and vigorously pursues - the paradigm of programming by optimisation (PbO); he is also one of the originators of the concept of automated machine learning (AutoML). Holger has a penchant for work at the boundaries between computing science and other disciplines, and much of his work is inspired by real-world applications. In 2018, together with Morten Irgens (OsloMet) and Philipp Slusallek (DFKI), Holger launched CLAIRE, an initiative by the European AI community that seeks to strengthen European excellence in AI research and innovation. CLAIRE promotes excellence across all of AI, for all of Europe, with a human-centred focus (for details, see claire-ai.org).

Karapiperis, Theodoros

Head of Scientific Foresight Unit, STOA

Theo Karapiperis read Mathematical Physics at the University of Sussex, UK, and went on to earn a PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1982. He worked in fundamental and applied research until 1995. He has been working at the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels since 1995, where he held posts as administrator in the Press Service, the Secretariat of STOA (Science and Technology Options Assessment, now Panel for the Future of Science and Technology) and the Secretariat of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), where he dealt mostly with EU research policy. From 2005 to 2010 he was head of unit in charge of the Policy Department for Economic and Scientific Policy in the Directorate-General for Internal Policies (DG IPOL). In 2010 he became head of the unit responsible for the STOA Secretariat, which has been part of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) since 2013. His unit comprises, in addition to the STOA Secretariat, the Scientific Foresight Service created in 2014 and, since 2018, the team supporting the work of the European Science-Media Hub, which promotes networking, training and knowledge dissemination at the interface of the EP, the scientific community and the media Job title & department: Head of Unit, Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA), Directorate for Impact Assessment and European Added Value, European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), European Parliament

Nomine, Jean-Philippe

Member of ETP4HPC Steering Board

Jean-Philippe Nominé joined CEA HPC division in 1992, where he held different managing positions in HPC software development. Dr. Nominé has been involved in PRACE since its preparation in 2007. He was a Member of PRACE AISBL Board of Directors in 2010-2011. He was then ETP4HPC Association Office Manager between 2012 and 2019, actively involved in particular in the monitoring of the HPC contractual Public Private Partnership with the European Commission between 2014 and 2018. He is now a member of ETP4HPC Steering Board, and ETP4HPC Vice-chair for Research. At CEA he manages HPC strategic collaborations (EU and international), in particular in relationship with EuroHPC. J.P. Nominé graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (engineer degree) and holds a PhD from Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (Paris).

Robbert Fisher

President, Knowledge4Innovation

Robbert Fisher specializes in strategy and policy in the fields of R&D, technology transfer and innovation in general. His key focus is on ICT policy. Since 1st January 2020 he is principal associate investigator at the University de las Campinas in Sao Paolo Brazil, where he focuses on the further development of Big Data and AI for policy analysis, development and monitoring. Robbert is on the board of several start up companies, a trusted expert for the European Commission in the field of big data and AI, and since 2017 the president of K4I. From 2011 to 2019 Robbert was the managing director of the Joint Institute for Innovation Policy, a Brussels based think tank of four renowned RTO’s (TNO, VTT, Tecanalia and Joanneum Research). Prior to that he has founded two companies, from 1989 until 2000 he was a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers. From 1991-1995 Robbert was seconded as an expert to the European Commission DG XIII (now DG CONNECT) in Luxembourg. Robbert received a Master’s degree Law, Leiden University, the Netherlands with special subjects Intellectual property, Information Systems and Business economics. He holds degrees in marketing and public relations. In addition, he is an alumnus of the PwC International Management Development Programme, and has followed executive courses at Darden Business School and Oxford Said Business School.

Sivonen, Pekka

Executive Director, Digital Transformation

After joining Finnish Innovation Funding Agency Tekes in Feb 2016 responsible for the digitalization strategy and related programs; 5G, Industrial Internet, Artificial Intelligence, Platform Economy and Smart Mobility. Starting from June 2018, Executive Director of BUSINESS FINLAND, responsible for the Digital Transformation of Finnish Industries. Mr. Sivonen has acted as chairman and international expert in many roles. In 2011 he was the chair of Finland 2030 Future Committee for Corporate renewal. In 2017 he chaired the national strategy and roadmap on Digital Platform Economy. He is a member of Finnish national AI-workgroup. He is a member of High Level Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence HLGAI to the European Commission and Digital transformation expert for World Bank and World Economic Forum (WEF). Lately he was invited as a member of 6G Flagship Steering Group by Oulu University. As a 3rd generation entrepreneur, Mr. Sivonen is the Founder of Digia, a publicly NASDAQ OMX -listed mobile sw-company. He took the company from 1 person to 1.600 employees. He has 20 years of experience in mobile software and 35 years as entrepreneur. He has been ranked as the Entrepreneur of the Year in Finland in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by E&Y. As a Founder of 4 international accelerator companies, he also has an extensive knowledge on boosting open innovation and early-stage start-ups internationally.

Decraemer, Paul

Chief Financial Officer, Inbiose

Paul joined Inbiose as CFO shortly after the foundation of the company. He is closely involved in the set-up of corporate partnerships and fundraising processes. Paul has a background of more than 20 year in investing in innovative European companies with technology as competitive advantage. He was one of the first European venture capitalists actively investing in green and sustainable technology companies.

Molders, Katrien

Coordinator SmartPilots Project and Communication Manager Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, Belgium

Katrien Molders is Communication Manager at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (Ghent, Belgium), a pilot facility for process development, scale-up and custom manufacturing of biobased products and processes. She takes care of all communication related issues for BBEPP and is currently also coordinating the Pilots4U and SmartPilots projects. Being convinced that a shift to a sustainable bio-based economy will attract sustainable investments, create sustainable jobs and address the societal challenges Europe is facing, Mrs. Molders actively engages in communicating the role and the impact of pilot facilities in enabling such a transition by i.a. reaching out to regional, national and European policy makers as well as EU citizens. Katrien Molders received a Master of Science degree in BioSciences at Ghent University. After working for a few years as a commercial profile in private companies, she understood her true passion is all about supporting and communicating the implementation of scientific innovations for the creation of a more sustainable society. Prior to her position at BBEPP, she worked for the Institute for Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries (now called International Plant Biotechnology Outreach), The European Plant Science Organisation and the MELISSA project run by the European Space Agency.

Nikolova, Iskra

Policy Officer, Province of South-Holland, The Netherlands

The province of Zuid-Holland operates on behalf of the community of Zuid-Holland. In our society there are social challenges which run parallel to cross-border obstacles and chances. Our extensive international networks, expertise of lobby and knowledge of European subsidies contribute to reaching common goals. Within the complex European system, we form alliances between European and Zuid-Holland partners in order to support them in solving mutual challenges. As partner of SmartPilots, PZH implemented a Smart Specialization action to improve the PZH innovation ecosystem towards interregional cooperation around existing pilot infrastructure bundling knowledge for scale up. SmartsPilots provided insight in direct and indirect support mechanisms for sustainable business modelling for infrastructure investment in biobased pilot a demonstration plants and its operationalization, in line with smart specialization strategies of the partner regions, not to duplicate existing infrastructures but to cooperate. Investments and regional innovation subsidies should also be complemented with financial mechanisms (equity,) to de-risk industrial deployment. Pilot plants should provide easier and affordable access to biobased SMEs for their scale up: effective direct and indirect support to pilot facilities are fee-based and grant mechanisms such as clusters, vouchers (for pilot projects), also open for to actors of other regions.

Reppel, Katja

Deputy Head of Unit ‘Smart and Sustainable Growth’, DG REGIO, European Commission

Deputy Head of the Unit in charge of the competence centre for smart and sustainable growth of the European Commission's Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy. Senior EU policy expert with over 20 years of experience in different European and national organisations. Main fields of expertise: research, innovation, SME competitiveness, digital economy, education policy, smart specialisation, gender equality, State aid and synergies between different EU funding instruments related to smart growth.

Sederel, Willem

Board Member Biobased Delta and Chair Biobased Circular Business Platform

Willem Sederel is a chemical engineer and polymer scientist from the University of Technology Twente in Enschede (NL). He completed his education cum laude and did a post doc on biomedical materials at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1977 he started his industrial career with Shell in Amsterdam, and then moved to General Electric where he fulfilled global leadership roles in process, product and application development and marketing. His last role before retiring from his 36 year career in Industry was global innovation leader with SABIC. Willem joined the Biobased Delta in 2013 as director and chairman. Since April 2016 he is responsible for the international activities within the Board. Willem is also the founding father of the Green Chemistry Campus in Bergen op Zoom that opened in September 2011 as a Biobased Incubator for SME. From 2015-2017 he was the chairman of the Biorenewables Business Platform in the Netherlands. He is currently member of the Advisory Board of Biorizon (NL) and CLIB (D)

Siweris, Erwin

Interreg Europe Programme Director

Erwin is responsible for the overall programme management and relation to the programme governance institutions (the Partner States, the Hauts-de-France Region as Managing Authority, the European Commission etc.). He is also in charge of managing the secretariat's team of 31 members. He has experience in managing finances for the transnational programmes INTERREG IIC and IIIB Baltic Sea Region in Rostock, Germany; and two years with the Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, Germany, advising SMEs about EU funding schemes. Erwin was Deputy Programme Manager in the INTERREG IIIC West and the INTERREG IVC Programme. He holds a diploma in Political Economics and Banking and has worked as a consultant in political economics.

Soetaert, Wim

CEO Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

Prof. Wim Soetaert holds a degree in chemical and biochemical engineering and did a PhD in bioengineering at Ghent University. Prof. Wim Soetaert currently heads the Centre of Expertise for Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis (InBio.be) at Ghent University, Faculty of BioScience Engineering. InBio is active in the areas of industrial biotechnology, biocatalysis, fermentation science and engineering and counts about 40 people. www.inbio.be He is the founder and chairman of Ghent Bio-Economy Valley, a public private partnership to promote the development of biobased activities in the Ghent area in Belgium. Since its creation in 2005, Ghent Bio-Energy Valley has quickly grown into one of the main growth centers for the biobased economy in Europe, with over 500 Million euros already invested in the port of Ghent. www.gbev.org Prof. Wim Soetaert is also the director of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, an open innovation Pilot Plant for biobased products and processes based in Ghent. Within the framework of an Interreg project, over 21 Million euros have been invested in Bio Base Europe sofar. www.bbeu.org Prof. Wim Soetaert is the founder and executive chairman of Inbiose, a spin-off company of Ghent University that is producing speciality carbohydrates through industrial biotechnology. www.inbiose.com

Vermeulen, Hilde

Policy Officer, Department of Economy, Science and Innovation of the Flanders Region

Hilde is policy advisor of the department Economy, Science and Innovation, Flemish government since December 2006. She is Belgian delegate in the programme committee responsible for the Horizon2020 work programs ‘Innovation and SMEs’ and ‘Access to Risk Finance’. She has experience as partner of a number of EU projects of the interreg and R&D framework programs in different areas of SME innovation policy. She was Belgian Sherpa for the High Level Group GEAR2030 (EU automotive industry). She holds a master degree and a specialization in Applied Economics at KULeuven, where she was 5 years research assistant in the area of innovation and clusters. She also worked at Idea Consultant and as sector advisor for the Belgian industry federation Agoria.

Fackelman, Surya

Advisor EIB

Surya Fackelmann joined the EIB and the Innovation Finance Advisory (IFA) team in 2016. She has worked on IFA’s various work streams across diverse sectors, co-authoring market studies (e.g. studies on gender gap in access to risk capital and on How finance can boost innovation in agri-food) as well as helping innovative companies gain easier access to finance (e.g. agri-tech company Devenish, B2B provider of novel biomanufacturing platforms Univercells). Prior to joining the EIB, Surya worked at World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, supporting deal origination in the Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services sectors. Surya has an international study background in economics and finance; she holds degrees from Sciences Po Paris, Columbia University and attended Bocconi.

Houser, Kimberly

Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University

Kimberly A. Houser is an Assistant Professor of Business Law and the Law of Emerging Technologies at Oklahoma State University and a long-time tech attorney. Her primary stream of research explores privacy, big data, artificial intelligence, and unconscious bias/gender diversity issues. She speaks often on these issues at events including TNW in Amsterdam on the GDPR, University of Oxford on comparative privacy law, 5th Congress of the French Association of Law and Management in Paris on the efficacy of board gender quota laws and initiatives, and Sage-London on the data mining activities of the taxing authorities in the U.S. and UK, she is the sole and co-author of numerous articles.

Rusling, Marie-Elisabeth

CEO, Business Angels Europe

Scappatura, Rosa

Relationship Executive BNY Mellon

With over twenty years of industry experience, Rosa is responsible for managing and enhancing existing client relationships within the Issuer Services, Corporate Trust Division, and for implementing key strategic initiatives to grow business revenue. Rosa is also in charge of the relationship with the ICSDs and of the company’s Common Depository business. In this capacity she also serves as a member of the Management Committee of ICMSA, the International Capital Market Services Association. She is a member of BNY Mellon’s EMEA Operating Committee and of the Corporate Trust Global Relationship Management Leadership Team. Prior to joining Corporate Trust, Rosa was a Client Executive within Global Client Management, in charge of the relationship with key strategic enterprise-wide clients. Other previous roles include Business Development Lead, a role that involved driving the Company's commercial efforts in the Benelux region across all business lines, and Asset Servicing Relationship Manager based in Italy and later in France. Rosa earned an Executive MBA from Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and an MA in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Pisa. Rosa was nominated by EIGE (the European Union Institute for Gender Equality) as part of its Women and Men inspiring Europe pool. She is a founding member and member of the Steering Committee of Women in Finance Belgium, a gender equality industry association representing 80% of the workforce in the Belgian financial industry

Sforcina, Kathryn

Serial Entrepreneur

Kathryn balances a portfolio style career as the Chief Advisor on Strategy for SingularityU Australia, an Advisor to a number of technology companies, impact funds, summits and initiatives and as the Commercial Director for a global technology firm, PALO IT. Kathryn has also been a serial entrepreneur having founded, scaled and globalised 5 of her own ventures, she has accumulated 20 years of senior management, c-suite and board level experience in more than seven unrelated industries. Kathryn is known for being a divergent thinker who challenges boundaries and embraces technologies that seek to solve the wicked problems of this world, moving organisations into breakthrough periods of transformation, innovation, social impact and global opportunity.

Antičić, Tome

State Secretary for Science and EU funds at Ministry of Science and Education, Croatia

Experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the research industry. Skilled in Experimental Physics, Management, Horizon2020, International Programs, and structural funds. Strong professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused in Physics from The Johns Hopkins University.

Darmendrail, Dominique

ANR, Water4ALL JPI

Since November 2014, she is the coordinator of the EU Water Joint Programming Initiative (www.waterjpi.eu) which aims at increasing coordination in European research, development and innovation (RDI), and address issues such as user participation, attaining targets in the coordinated use of funds and progress in the integration of RDI agendas and activities. She also coordinates the Coordination and Support Actions IC4Water for the development of international cooperation in Research and Innovation in the Water area. Since July 2014, she become programme manager on Environmental technologies at the French Research Agency (ANR). She holds a Doctorate on Hydrogeology and Hydrogeochemistry from the University of Bordeaux (France). She has been the Head of BRGM's Environment and Process Division from 1998 – 2007 and, from May 2010 to July 2014, European Affairs representative within BRGM while being the secretary general of the Common Forum on Contaminated Land in Europe (www.commonforum.eu), European network of contaminated land policy experts and of the International Committee on Contaminated Land (www.iccl.ch).

Ijabs, Ivars

MEP

Ivars Ijabs is a full member of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and Delegation for relations with the United States. He is a substitute member of the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Delegation for relations with the countries of the Andean Community, Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Ijabs is a member of the Panel for the Future of Science and Technology of the European Parliament (formally Science and Technology Options Assessment) and Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence

Marinescu, Marian-Jean

MEP

Marian-Jean Marinescu is a Romanian, center-right politician, who's political career fallowed closely the democratic and European evolution of the Romanian political life. Aircraft engineer by profession, Marinescu joined the Romanian Democratic Party in 1992 and has held offices both in local government bodies and in the national Parliament. With Romania's accession to the European Union in 2007, Marinescu was elected to the European Parliament and has since sat on the Committees on Transport and Tourism, on Budgetary Control and on Industry, Research and Energy. Marinescu was Vice-Chair of the EPP Group from 2007 to 2019 and is currently the EPP Group Coordinator for Transport policies. Member of the National Liberal Party, Marian-Jean Marinescu is one of the most active and influential Romanian MEPs.

Panagopoulou, Anna

Director, Common Implementation Centre - DG Research and Innovation, EC

Ms Anna Panagopoulou joined the European Commission from the private sector in 1997. Between 1999 and 2009, she was policy officer in DG MOVE/ENER, where she worked on EU transport and energy infrastructure policy, research policy, and international cooperation. She then joined the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA), initially as Head of Unit and, from 2014, as Head of Department for Programme Support and Resources. Since July 2016, she has been the Director of the Common Implementation Centre in DG Research and Innovation. The directorate designs the strategy and provides the framework for coherent and simplified implementation of the EU R&I programmes. It provides comprehensive services and advice on legal, audit, business process and IT issues. As the one-stop-shop for data, reporting, and monitoring of the framework programmes, it provides knowledge to support policy-making and to stimulate the exploitation of results. Recently she undertook also the responsibility as acting Director of DG R&I Directorate G “Research and Innovation Outreach”. Directorate G reinforces at crosscutting level the engagement with citizens & society, with academic and research organisations and with research and industrial infrastructures. It helps ensure that researchers, knowledge and technology circulate freely within a revitalised and reinforced European Research Area (ERA), which generates investment, national reforms and EU policies to create critical mass within a coherent R&I policy framework.

Robbert Fisher

President, Knowledge4Innovation

Robbert Fisher specializes in strategy and policy in the fields of R&D, technology transfer and innovation in general. His key focus is on ICT policy. Since 1st January 2020 he is principal associate investigator at the University de las Campinas in Sao Paolo Brazil, where he focuses on the further development of Big Data and AI for policy analysis, development and monitoring. Robbert is on the board of several start up companies, a trusted expert for the European Commission in the field of big data and AI, and since 2017 the president of K4I. From 2011 to 2019 Robbert was the managing director of the Joint Institute for Innovation Policy, a Brussels based think tank of four renowned RTO’s (TNO, VTT, Tecanalia and Joanneum Research). Prior to that he has founded two companies, from 1989 until 2000 he was a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers. From 1991-1995 Robbert was seconded as an expert to the European Commission DG XIII (now DG CONNECT) in Luxembourg. Robbert received a Master’s degree Law, Leiden University, the Netherlands with special subjects Intellectual property, Information Systems and Business economics. He holds degrees in marketing and public relations. In addition, he is an alumnus of the PwC International Management Development Programme, and has followed executive courses at Darden Business School and Oxford Said Business School.

Seitz, Peter

Peter Seitz is a member of the Executive Board of Photonics21, he is ‘Senior Technologist Europe’ of Hamamatsu Photonics, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences, he is adjunct professor of optoelectronics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology EPFL, and he is the co-founder and past Managing Director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH. Earlier in his career, he was “Head, Science & Technology” at swissnex in San Francisco, Annex of the Consulate General of Switzerland, doing innovation scouting in Silicon Valley. As a serial entrepreneur, he has co-created 10 high-tech startups. Peter Seitz has published about 200 scientific papers, he has authored more than 60 patents, and he has won 20 national and international awards together with his teams, of which the most prestigious is the IST Grand Prize 2004 of the European Commission.

Defranceschi, Peter

Head of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability Brussels Office

Jakšić, Mišel

Mayor, City of Koprivnica, Croatia, Prominent MED project representative

Jaramillo, Ana Lucia

Corvers Commercial and Legal Affairs; The European Assistance for Innovation Procurement – Eafip

Locatelli, Ivo

Senior expert, DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Unit G4 - innovative and digital procurement, European Commission

Maier, Christoph

Interreg MED Programme representative

Palčić, Ivan

Counsellor (Public Procurement, Consumer Protection, Competition), Permanent Representation of Croatia to the European Union

Rogalska, Marzena

Director Public Procurement, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission

Šimić, Ivan

Managing Director, Regional Energy Agency North, Croatia