AI & Data for Innovation Summit

Brännman, Per

Deputy Mine Manager at LKAB in Kiruna

Responsible for the total underground mine production of up to 31Mtpy of crude ore from exploration through mine production to hoisting to the plants . The operation comprises over 700 employees plus Contractors

Brosig, Andreas

Beak Consultants, GmbH

Mr. Andreas Brosig studied at TU Bergakademie Freiberg and TU Munich and holds a M.Sc. in Geology and Paleontology. He joined Beak Consultants GmbH from Germany in 2016. Between 2016 and 2019, he worked on 3D modelling and data processing for 2D and 3D predictive mapping with artificial neural networks, principally in the German-Czech Erzgebirge area and the DR Congo. Since 2019, he is involved in the H2020-funded research projects NEXT for data fusion and integration, and MAP for ressource assesments with AI and geostatistical methods.

Eklind, Anna

Program Manager Connectivity, Epiroc

Anna Eklind works as Program Manager Connectivity at Epiroc, a leading global productivity partner, manufacturing equipment and tools as well as providing services and solutions to the mining and infrastructure industries. In her role she focuses on digital transformation and doing this by connecting technology with people and processes. Her 20 years of experience in this sector ranges from technology, marketing, logistics and sustainability, always with innovation and continuous improvements in mind.

Feiel, Susanne

Head of Resources Innovation Center, RIC Leoben, Montanuniversitaet Leoben

Susanne Feiel is head of Resources Innovation Center - RIC Leoben - at Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria which houses the institution’s participation in the EIT RawMaterials, EIT Climate-KIC, its SDG and sustainability actions. Parallel to this position she is also still pursuing her position as head of the university’s international department. Despite the twofold function, she has always been passionately involved in her work and the symbiotic development of both centers.

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.

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.

Moser, Peter

Head of the Chair of Mining Engineering and Mineral Economics Vice Rector für Infrastructure and International Relations, University of Leoben

Peter Moser is a professor at Montanuniversitaet Leoben. He completed his MSc in Mining Engineering with a specialisation in Tunnelling in 1983 and his PhD in Mining in 1989. Since 2006 he is the Head of Department of Mineral Resources & Petroleum Engineering and holds the Chair of Mining Engineering & Mineral Economics. In 2011 he was appointed Vice Rector, responsible for International Affairs and University infrastructure. Through his very active involvement in the European Raw Materials landscape, such as his involvement in the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials High Level Steering Group or his role as steering committee member in the EIT RawMaterials Community, his research and devotion currently revolve around the societal challenges regarding a sustainable raw materials supply of Europe and the globe.

Willem Jonker

CEO , EIT Digital

Prof. Willem Jonker (1962) has a broad background in ICT, both in industry as well as in academia. He studied mathematics and computer science at Groningen University, worked at Delft University of Technology, received his PhD from the University of Utrecht, and is a part-time full professor in computer science at Twente University. Willem Jonker's industrial experience covers telecommunications (KPN), IT (European Computer industry Research Centre, Munich) and consumer electronics (Philips). He held several positions as researcher, international project leader, department head, sector head, and account manager. In 2006 he was appointed Vice President Philips Research. Prof. Dr. Jonker has served European ICT research in various ways amongst others as project leader, reviewer, and advisor.

Bakker, Babette

Program Manager, TNO Appl.AI

Babette Bakker works as a program manager of TNO Appl.AI (Applied AI) and as a researcher in innovation policy at TNO. Appl.AI is TNO’s initiative to stimulate AI innovation by bringing governments, companies and researchers together in joint innovation projects. Her role is to set up and coordinate this new program. As a researcher, she is especially involved in AI for public policy and services. Babette is also an advisor and researcher in innovation policy and strategy. She has ample experience in data-driven foresight studies, impact assessment of technology, roadmaps and national research agendas. Her role is to bridge the gap between policy/strategy questions, technological/market expertise and data science. Babette completed the data expert program of the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, the European Master in System Dynamics and a bachelor in (International) Economics from the Radboud University Nijmegen.

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).

King, Dave

Founder and CEO, Exaptive, Inc

CEO David King founded Exaptive in 2011 to show that technology platforms could augment human creativity to facilitate innovation at scale. Frustrated that radical innovation often hinged on serendipity, Dave was driven to build a software ecosystem that uses data-science to facilitate unexpected, cross-disciplinary connections and more ah-ha! moments for scientists, researchers, designers, and industry analysts tackling complex problems. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science and a concentration in the social sciences, Dave has spent 20+ years working in software development – from system architecture and large-scale database design, to the psychology of user interfaces, to the management of agile teams.

Koene, Ansgar

Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader, EY

Dr. Ansgar Koene is Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader at EY where he supports the AI Lab’s Policy activities on Trusted AI. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the RCUK funded Horizon Digital Economy Research institute (University of Nottingham) where he contributes to the policy impact activities of the institute and leads the policy related stakeholder engagement activities of the ReEnTrust project. As part of this work Ansgar has provided evidence to twelve UK parliamentary inquiries, co-authored a report on Bias in Algorithmic Decision-Making for the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, and was lead author of a Science Technology Options Assessment report on a Governance Framework for Algorithmic Accountability and Transparency for the European Parliament.

Madigan, Mary Carol

Strategy Expert, Machine Learning, SAP

Mary Carol Madigan is a strategist for artificial intelligence at SAP, where she helps define how SAP leverages artificial intelligence to builds Intelligent Enterprises. Mary Carol also focuses on implementing AI ethics at SAP as well as other strategic topics key to the success of innovation. Prior to joining SAP, Mary Carol worked in new product development for UnitedHealth Group, where she focused on launching new healthcare services. She received her MBA from the University of Notre Dame and has a degree in Political Science from College of the Holy Cross.

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.

Smuha, Nathalie

Assistant lecturer and Researcher FWO Fellowship, KU Leuven

Nathalie holds a Master of Laws with specialization in International and European law, as well as a Bachelor of Philosophy from the KU Leuven. She also pursued an LL.M. at the University of Chicago Law School (where she focused both on law and ethics), after which she qualified at the New York Bar. After completing her studies, Nathalie worked as an associate in an international law firm in Brussels, advising companies on EU competition law, EU procedural law and EU regulation more generally. Since her return to the Law Faculty in 2017, when she joined the Department of International and European Law as an assistant lecturer, Nathalie has been focusing on the (EU) regulation of new technologies and - in particular - of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Her research deals with the impact of AI and other technologies on fundamental rights, and the broader legal and ethical issues raised thereby. In 2018, Nathalie obtained an FWO Fellowship to conduct her research in this field. In the context of her research, Nathalie also worked at the European Commission (DG Connect), where she assisted with ethical and legal matters relating to AI and coordinated the work of the EC High-Level Expert Group on AI, which delivered two documents: Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, addressed to AI practitioners and AI Policy and Investment Recommendations, addressed to the European Commission and Member States.

Zucker, Michelle

Director Community Activation, EIT Climate-KIC

Michelle believes that the only way to make big, bold and meaningful change is to bring people together. She has worked extensively in complex innovation initiatives, exploring novel ways to tackle long standing and systemic challenges. Over the last 15 years she has worked in innovation across the entire spectrum – from grass roots through to whole of systems. Michelle’s current role is the Director of Community Activation at EIT Climate-KIC, a pan-European innovation initiative for climate change. Here she works to bring unusual actors, communities and voices not normally heard into action-based initiatives for climate – think sci-fi economics, ownership of commons, art, culture and museums

Engelmann, Ulla

Head of Unit for Advanced Technologies, Clusters, and Social Economy, within DG GROW, European Commission

Ulla Engelmann is the Head of Unit for Advanced Technologies, Clusters, and Social Economy within DG GROW, the Directorate General being responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, at the European Commission. Since the beginning of 2017 she covered European Cluster Policy, Social Economy as well as Women Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship education. From 1.10.2018 onwards Advanced Technologies including Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation for industry have been added to her responsibilities. Previously, she worked at the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the in-house science service of European Commission, for many years in different functions. She started in the JRC in Ispra (Italy) in 1993 as a post-doc in fusion research, and moved on to manage various units (communication, international relations, and others) in Ispra and Brussels. Dr. Engelmann holds a PhD in analytical and radiochemistry completed at the National Research Centre in Karlsruhe.

Kutvonen, Markku

Co-Creation Manager, VTT (FCAI)

Markku Kutvonen has joined VTT from industrial background where he has led R&D for 15 years. His background is strongly in software, data security , embedded systems and medical industry. He has experience in European activities, such as Trusted Cloud High Impact Initiative at EIT Digital. In that context he has also coached startups.

Liebl, Andreas

Managing Director at UnternehmerTUM Projekt GmbH and Head of appliedAI Initiative

Dr. Andreas Liebl, Managing Director of UnternehmerTUM GmbH, is responsible, among other things, for setting up the appliedAI initiative with partners such as Google and NVIDIA. With 50 partners, the initiative is already one of the largest initiatives in Europe in the field of applied artificial intelligence and answers the organisational, technological and strategic questions of companies with regards to the application of AI. Before joining UnternehmerTUM, he worked for McKinsey for five years and did his PhD at the Entrepreneurship Research Institute at the Technical University of Munich. In his doctoral thesis, he accompanied 120 start-ups for one year and examined their corporate culture and identity.

Nilsson, Jeanette

AI Ecosystem Driver, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

After graduating from Luleå University of Technology, Jeanette Nilsson first started working with building bridges and planning infrastructure investment in the north of Sweden and when Sweden became a member of the European Union. Jeanette was recruited to North Sweden European Office in Brussels mostly working with infrastructure and regional policy matters. She set up an office to handle the structural fonds in the north of Sweden. From February she has a new position as AI Ecosystem Driver at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden). With a background as a MSc in civil engineering and working with developing companies and the surrounding ecosystem both national and regional she makes use of the network and experience to coordinate different ecosystems, so more companies and society see the possibilities with AI and work together. Jeanette is the project leader of the AI Agenda for Sweden.

Sassen, Anne-Marie

Deputy Head of the Technologies and Systems for Digitising Industry unit, DG GROW, European Commission

Anne-Marie is Deputy Head of the "Technologies and Systems for Digitising Industry" unit in DG CONNECT, European Commission. She coordinates the work of the European Commission, the Member States and Regions in setting up a network of Digital Innovation Hubs in Europe to enable all companies to benefit from digital technologies to improve their production, business processes and products. Before joining the European Commission Anne-Marie worked as project manager for Atos in Spain and researcher for TNO in the Netherlands. She studied Computer Science at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands and received her PhD from the Technical University in Delft in the field of Human-Machine interaction.

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.

Berendsen, Tom

Member of the European Parliament

Tom Berendsen is a Dutch politician for the Christian democrats (CDA). He is Member of the European Parliament since 2 July 2019. Berendsen has a degree in Public Administration from the Tilburg University and has spent time at the Catholic University Leuven as part of the Erasmus programme. Between 2009 and 2015 Berendsen worked as a parliamentary assistant at the CDA delegation in the European Parliament. After his first period in Brussels he worked as an advisor on sustainability at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the Netherlands. After being chairman of the local Breda section of the CDA, Berendsen got elected in 2019 as Member of the European Parliament.

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).

Houben, Geert-Jan

Full Professor, TU Delft, Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Department of Software Technology

Full professor of Web Information Systems at the Software Technology department at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). Leading a research group on Web Information Systems and involved in the education in Computer Science in Delft, with a focus on the role of Web data in the engineering of Web-based information systems. Also, scientific director of Delft Data Science, TU Delft’s coordinating initiative in the field of Data Science, and holding the KIVI-chair Big Data Science. Serving as Director of Education at the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at TU Delft. Serving as Coordinator for AI, Data & Digitization in research and education at TU Delft.

Jonker, Catholijn

Full Professor, TU Delft, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Department of Intelligent Systems

Prof. dr. Catholijn Jonker is head of the Interactive Intelligence group of the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science, TU Delft. Jonker is also full professor of Explainable Artificial Intelligence at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science of Leiden University. She is a board member and a Fellow of EurAI, member of the Academia Europaea, member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities. In the past she was chair of the Dutch Network of Female Full Professors and of De Jonge Akademie of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is co-PI of the 20 million Euro ten-year research programme on Hybrid Intelligence (starting 1.1.2020).

Kilbane-Dawe, Iarla

UK policy lead, CLAIRE

Dr Iarla Kilbane-Dawe is UK policy lead for CLAIRE, the European AI confederation. His work aims to advance European AI research and commercial development, in particular by accelerating collaboration between AI and climate change researchers and practitioners. An atmospheric scientist by background, he previously led the European Space Agency's phi-lab leading work on AI for Earth observation, and was head of the Chief Scientific Advisor's Office at the UK Department for Transport.

Kober, Jens

Assistant Professor, Cognitive Robotics department, TU Delft

Jens Kober is an associate professor at the TU Delft, Netherlands. He worked as a postdoctoral scholar jointly at the CoR-Lab, Bielefeld University, Germany and at the Honda Research Institute Europe, Germany. He graduated in 2012 with a PhD Degree in Engineering from TU Darmstadt and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. For his research he received the annually awarded Georges Giralt PhD Award for the best PhD thesis in robotics in Europe and the 2018 IEEE RAS Early Academic Career Award. Jens was awarded a prestigious ERC Starting Grant in 2018. His research interests include robotics, machine learning, and control.

Santoni de Sio, Filippo

Assistant Professor, TU Delft Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Department of Values, Technologies and Innovation

I have a PhD in Moral Philosophy. I am currently Assistant Professor in Ethics of Technology at the Section Ethics/Philosophy of Technology of TU Delft, and an adjunct professor in Ethics of Transportation at the Politecnico di Milano. I am Rapporteur of the EU Commission Expert Group to advise on ethical issues raised by driverless mobility (E03659) and co-director of the NWO-funded interdisciplinary project Meaningful Human Control over Automated Driving Systems (2017-2020). I am in the Management Team of the 4TU.Ethics federation, and in the Work Council (OdC) of the faculty TBM at TU Delft.

van ’t Klooster, Ronald

Senior R&D Engineer / Project Leader, Quantib B.V.

Ronald van ‘t Klooster joined Quantib, a scale-up company developing medical image analysis software, in 2014 after finishing his studies at Delft University of Technology and completing a PhD in medical image segmentation and registration at Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden. As a senior R&D engineer, Ronald's expertise covers the whole chain of product development, from prototyping, algorithm development to designing software for the end user and obtaining regulatory approval, as well as bringing the final software product to market. Additionally, he is involved as project leader in European subsidy projects, such as the ITEA3 project IMPACT. One of Ronald's current focus points is AI and getting these technologies into society both from a user and regulatory point of view.

Viola, Roberto

Director General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT)

Roberto Viola is Director General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology) at the European Commission. He was the Deputy Director-General of DG CONNECT, European Commission from 2012 to 2015. Roberto Viola served as Chairman of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG) from 2012 to 2013, as Deputy Chairman in 2011 and Chairman in 2010. He was a member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators), and Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG) in 2007. He held the position of Secretary General in charge of managing AGCOM, from 2005 to 2012. Prior to this, he served as Director of Regulation Department and Technical Director in AGCOM from 1999 to 2004. From 1985-1999 he served in various positions including as Head of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Satellite Services at the European Space Agency (ESA). Roberto Viola holds a Doctorate in Electronic Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).

Roland Strauss

Managing Director, Knowledge4Innovation

Rusling, Marie-Elisabeth

CEO, Business Angels Europe

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.

Lee, Carlos

Director General, EPIC – European Photonics Industry Consortium

Carlos Lee is Director General at EPIC, the world leading photonics industry association representing over 500 corporate members across 33 countries. As part of the EPIC mission, Carlos works closely with industrial photonic companies to ensure a vibrant and competitive ecosystem by maintaining a strong international network and acting as a catalyst and facilitator for technological and commercial advancement. He brings with him a strong background in microelectronics which was acquired through several management positions held at the international association SEMI. He has been responsible in Europe for the SEMI International Standards program, managed technical and executive programs, and together with the advisory board advocated for a more competitive semiconductor and photovoltaic manufacturing industry. Carlos has a BBA in Finance and an MBA in Leadership & Change Management from United Business Institutes.

Asimakopoulou, Anna Michelle

Member of the European Parliament

Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou has studied economics and law in the USA and in the UK and worked for several years as a lawyer in New York, specializing in financial transactions and international banking law. She worked as director of an NGO in Greece, focusing on ICT deployment and regional development. She also worked as an evaluator of projects funded by the European Commission and as a consultant in the private sector in Brussels and Luxembourg. She served as Deputy-Mayor of the City of Ioannina (2010-2012) and an elected member of the Hellenic Parliament (2012-2019). She was appointed Spokesperson of the New Democracy Party in 2013. She was Head of Fiscal Policy Sector (2015), Head of the Development and Competition Sector (2016) and Head of the Digital Policy, Telecommunications & Media Sector for New Democracy (2016-2019). She is currently a Member of the European Parliament and Vice Chair of the Committee on International Trade.

Gómez-Pérez, Asunción

Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Doctoral Studies, Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, Full Professor, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Prof. Dr. Asunción Gómez-Pérez is Vice-Rector for Research, Innovation and Doctoral Studies. at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). She is Fellow of the European Academy of Science (2018). She is Full professor on Artificial Intelligence. She has received the Award ARITMEL - National Prize of Computer Science 2015, the Annual Award of Investigation of the UPM (2015) and the National Prize Ada Byron for the Technologist Woman in its second edition (2015). She leads the Ontology Engineering Group. Her research areas include: Ontological Engineering, Semantic Web, Linked Data, Multilingualism in Information and knowledge management.

Hahn, Thomas

President BDVA

Thomas Hahn has been Chief Software Expert at Siemens AG since 2011. After studying computer science at Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen he joined the company in 1986 and worked as a product developer in the field of industrial networks in Erlangen. In 1993 he moved to Nuremberg, where he worked in product management for SIMATIC and as a project manager responsible for development of SIMATIC STEP 7. From 1997 he worked as Head of Development at Traffic Control Systems in Munich for two years. In 1999 he returned to Nuremberg, where he was Head of Software Development for Industrial Automation Systems. He held this post until 2011. In addition to his function as Chief Software Expert, he was Head of the Business Analytics and Monitoring technology field from 2011 to August 2013. Beyond his activities at Siemens, Thomas Hahn is a member or board member of various bodies, including Openlab CERN, steering committee Plattform Industrie 4.0 and chairman Labs Network Industrie 4.0. He is vice-president OPC Foundation , president Big Data Value Association and in his role inside BDVA member of the EuroHPC Advisory Committee.

Liepert, Bernd

President, euRobotics

Dr. Bernd Liepert is the President of euRobotics aisbl, the international non-profit association for all stakeholders in European robotics. As Chief Innovation Officer at KUKA AG, Dr. Liepert was responsible for expanding innovations at KUKA. In this position he can contribute his vast robotics experience at the interface between technological innovation and the market. From 2008 to 2012 Dr. Liepert was President of EUROP, the European Robotics Technology Platform, and since then he is President of euRobotics AISBL – the European Robotics Association. euRobotics was founded in September 2012 and has become the private side of SPARC, the European Public-Private Partnership in Robotics in 2013. As president of these associations Dr. Liepert has been leading the European robotics community and representing it at high political levels.

Sioli, Lucilla

Director Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry, DG Connect, European Commission

Stancu, Ana-Maria

euRobotics Board Member, CEO, Bucharest Promo Robots, e-Civis

Since March 2019 Board member of euRobotics 2018 – present – CEO of Bucharest Promo Robots – the first Romanian Start-Up to offer the rental and purchase of humanoid robots in addition to RaaS services. 2009 – present – President of E-Civis, local organizing entity of the European Robotics Forum and the National Coordinator for European Robotics Week in Romania. 2007-2009 – Executive Director for the largest civic NGO in Romania, Pro Democracy Association; coordinating 10 employees, 30 branches and administrating a 1.5 million Euro budget. 2001 – 2007 – Projects Manager, Pro Democracy Association

Dodgson, Kate

Program manager, Data Science Initiative by Municipality of The Hague

Kate Dodgson is a project manager and researcher specialising in technology and innovation in the peace, justice, humanitarian and development sectors. Her work focuses on data science (artificial intelligence, machine learning), blockchain, innovation processes, data responsibility and ethics. She has consulted for various UN bodies, major INGOs, governments and universities including TU Delft, Leiden, University of Edinburgh and Texas A&M Qatar. Kate previously worked as a lawyer at the UN-ICTY, the International Criminal Court, and the Australian Government.

Nauta, Frans

National Lead Security, Netherlands AI Coalition Program Director, Data Science Initiative by Municipality of The Hague

Frans Nauta’s work is in innovation & entrepreneurship, with a focus on (clean)tech. By teaching & training on innovation and entrepreneurship, helping clients to grow the innovation capability of their organization, developing innovation ecosystems. At present Frans Nauta is working with the municipality of The Hague on Discovering how Data Science and Artificial Intelligence can contribute to peace, justice and security. With its profile of peace, justice and security, The Hague is well-positioned to adopt AI solutions for security challenges in its public and private organisations by accelerating scalable solutions and using data science through entrepreneurship. Some of the things Frans started: ClimateLaunchpad, the worlds largest accelerator program for clean tech business ideas (>45 countries, >800 startups trained this year), Climate-KIC Startup Accelerator (around 1.000 startups enrolled and >600 M€ attracted in funding), Innovation Platform chaired by the Dutch Prime Minister, Knowledgeland (think tank on social innovation and knowledge economy).

Cartage, Thierry

Industrial Function, Process Performance & Digital Director Solvay

Thierry has been graduated in Mechanical Engineer followed by a PhD in Applied Sciences at the Université Catholique de Louvain in 1987. He spent most of its career in Research Development and Technology, solving factory problems with innovative solutions, if necessary in partnership with Universities, Research Centers or Start-ups. Since 2012, he is now in the Management Team of the Industrial Function of the Group, in charge of Process Performance and Digital in Plants.

Colla, Valentina

Technical Research, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna

Valentina Colla graduated in Engineering at University of Pisa (UNIPI) in 1994 and got a PhD in Industrial and Information Engineering at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (SSSA) in Pisa in 1998. Since 2000 She was researcher at SSSA, where She is currently Technical Research Manager and Coordinator of the Research Center “ICT for Complex Industrial Systems and Processes” (ICT-COISP) of the TeCIP Institute. She holds more than 20 years of experience in modeling, simulation, monitoring and control of industrial processes including industrial applications of AI and Machine Learning techniques, with a particular focus on the steel sector. Currently She is lecturer at SSSA for the topic of Fundamentals of Neural Networks and other Bio-Inspired approaches and at UNIPI for the discipline of Structural Materials for Engineering.

Joris, Pierre

President of A.SPIRE, DOMO CHEMICALS

Pierre Joris is Engineer in Physics from University of Liège, holding an M.Sc. in Aeronautics & Astronautics from the University of Stanford, and an Advanced Executive degree from Kellogg's School of Management, Chicago. Pierre has 35 years of international experience in the Chemical Industry. He built his career for 29 years at Solvay, where he has held different leadership positions in R&D, Business Development/M&A and in Global Business Management. In his last positions, he was Managing Director of Solvay Solexis, the global fluoromaterial division of Solvay from 2005 to 2011 and completed his career at Solvay as Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer for the group from 2011 until June 2013. He was active at that time in the Research & Innovation Program Council of CEFIC.

Sioli, Lucilla

Director Artificial Intelligence and Digital Industry, DG Connect, European Commission

Vegge, Tejs

Professor, Head of Section, Technical University of Denmark

Prof. Vegge holds a M.Sc. and PhD degree in Computational Materials Physics from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). During his career, he has worked as an “Innovation postdoc” with Danfoss Corporate Ventures and DTU Physics, as a senior scientist and group leader at Risø DTU, and been a Visiting Professor at SLAC@Stanford University and at T. U. Münich. Prof. Vegge has been an innovator of clean energy materials for more than 18 years, working on accelerating the materials discovery and innovation process. He is an internationally leading expert in development of accelerated methodologies for integrating atomic-scale computational materials design, machine learning, advanced synthesis, in situ characterization and testing. His approaches are fundamental in nature, but maintain a clear focus on the commercial viability of next-generation clean energy materials. Prof. Vegge is an elected member of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV), an appointed member of the Danish Government’s Commission on Green Transportation and Mission Innovation Champion (2019), and an EU-US Frontiers of Engineering fellow (2016). He participate in a number of international consortia, e.g. as coordinator of the Battery Interface Genome – Materials Acceleration Platform (BIG-MAP) in Battery 2030+. He has published >130 papers (>6.500 citations; h-index = 41).