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    ECO18 Berlin Speakers

     

    Ecosummit accelerates startups, investors and corporates in smart green energy, mobility and cities. Ecosummit Berlin 2018 took place on 8-9 May 2018 at Radialsystem and presented 99 speakers including 69 startups profiled below.

     

     

    • Leonie Baneke (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/leoniebaneke.jpg
    • Investment Director
    • Eneco Smart Energy
    • http://www.enecogroup.com/what-we-do/innovation/
    • Leonie Baneke is Investment Director at Eneco Smart Energy. This team of around 50 FTE is responsible for the development and growth of Eneco’s (a leading Dutch utility) innovative business models and services, both internal and external. Leonie is responsible for identifying, structuring and managing investments in innovative companies, whereby the starting principle is to structure meaningful partnerships and commercial deals in parallel with such investments. Main focus is on domains such as smart homes, smart buildings, solar & storage, mobility, smart outdoor and smart grid & flexibility. Before joining Eneco, Leonie worked in mergers & acquisitions, advising companies and investors in a variety of sectors on acquisitions, divestments, financial restructuring and strategic topics.
    • Ulrich Seitz (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/ulrichseitz.jpg
    • Managing Director
    • BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures
    • https://energy-ventures.baywa-re.com
    • Ulrich Seitz is the Managing Director of BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures, a newly established corporate venture capital firm focusing on digital energy solutions, storage and emobility. With over ten years of experience on the startup scene as founder, management consultant and venture capital manager Ulrich Seitz knows the various perspectives on venture investing profoundly. Thus he combines an entrepreneurial spirit with the strategic ambition a corporate venture capital firm needs. He holds a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Company Building of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and has a strong passion for motorbikes.
    • Dr. Philipp Ulbrich (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/philippulbrich.jpg
    • Head of Scouting and Co-Investments
    • EON
    • https://www.eon.com/en/new-energy/innovation/start-ups.html
    • As Vice President Philipp leads Innovation Scouting and Co-Investments within the Innovation area of E.ON. This covers the two teams in Essen and in San Francisco, which he joined in June 2016. Before Philipp was responsible for the group-wide project Working Capital Excellence through which in two and a half years more than EUR 1.5 billion of liquidity could be released. Previously he was active in France as Head of Finance for E.ON. Philipp Ulbrich started his career in Subsidiary Controlling at E.ON, where he accompanied trade and distribution units. He holds a Doctorate from his time as an assistant teacher at the Economics Faculty of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. In his spare time, Philipp Ulbrich likes going into the mountains, either on hiking boots, crampons or ski. He also enjoys running, swimming and motorcycling.
    • Nigel Purcell (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/nigelpurcell.jpg
    • Investment Director
    • Engie New Ventures
    • http://www.engieventures.com
    • Nigel works as an investment Director in ENGIE New Ventures (ENV) which is the corporate venture arm of ENGIE S.A., where he focuses on deal flow sourcing, due diligence and execution across ENV’s different activities in Europe and North America. Specifically he focuses on looking to partner with startups who have innovative business models and value props which are of interest to different ENGIE business units. Nigel holds and Engineering degree from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA degree achieved in 2015 from INSEAD. In his spare time Nigel likes to ride horses and is preparing to compete in the Mongol Derby. He is also a member of Toastmasters where he enjoys delivering speeches on a regular basis.
    • Fabio Tentori (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/fabiotentori.jpg
    • CEO of Enel Innovation Hubs
    • Enel
    • https://www.enel.com
    • Since joining Enel in 2013, Fabio has gained relevant experience in the energy innovation domain, covering several roles in the development of the residential energy services business and then as Innovation Manager in Italy. In 2017 he moved to a global role as head of Startup Initiative & Business Incubator for Enel Group. Prior to Enel, Fabio worked for 6 years with McKinsey & Company, based in Milan and in London. He is also an occasional teacher at master courses on innovation and management. Fabio holds a MBA degree with honors achieved in 2010 at INSEAD.
    • Dr. Matthias Dill (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/matthiasdill.jpg
    • CEO
    • Statkraft Ventures
    • http://www.statkraftventures.com
    • Matthias is Managing Director of Statkraft Ventures GmbH. He is a mechanical engineer at heart but also trained in business administration. He is enthusiastic about making the world a better and cleaner place by partnering with smart entrepreneurs. Matthias is an experienced venture investor and board member. Prior to starting Statkraft Ventures he was with High-Tech Gründerfonds, Europe’s largest seed-fund.
    • Petr Mikovec (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/petrmikovec.jpg
    • Managing Director
    • Inven Capital
    • http://www.invencapital.cz/en/home.html
    • Petr Míkovec is the Managing Director of INVEN CAPITAL, a new venture capital fund established by the major European utility CEZ. INVEN CAPITAL and Petr’s motto is: You innovate, we invest, together we grow. Petr was at the very beginning of the fund existence in 2013/14 and built the investment vehicle from the position of CEZ Corporate Development Director. Overall Petr gained over 10 years experience in energy industry in the area of investment opportunities evaluation (EUR 100+ mil transaction volume) and utitlity strategy formulation. Before that, Petr was working for Patria Finance, Czech Republic´s leading investment house. Petr holds an MA in Finance from the Economic University of Prague and a diploma in Business Administration from UC Berkeley XT including International Internship Program as equity fundamental analyst at Technovision Management (hedge fund based in Los Altos, Silicon Valley) and an executive leadership diploma from the University of Pittsburgh´s Joseph M Katz Graduate School of Business.
    • Thomas Labryga (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomaslabryga.jpg
    • Director
    • innogy Ventures
    • https://www.innogy.ventures
    • Thomas is Director at innogy Ventures with a focus on energy, smart city and mobility venture capital investments. Prior to this function, he was a Management Consultant with a focus on reorganisation, finance and strategy in the energy industry. In this role, he was responsible, among other things, for the development of national level energy strategies, reorganisations and project management for one of the largest Initial Public Offerings in Germany. Thomas holds a Master Degree in International Business with a focus on Finance and Strategy from Maastricht University.
    • Tim Schumann (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/timschumann.jpg
    • Senior Manager Corporate New Ventures & Strategic Partnerships
    • Vattenfall
    • https://corporate.vattenfall.de/nachhaltigkeit/energie-der-zukunft/greenfield/
    • Tim is working with tech companies in the software as well as hardware space. Next to his experience including co-founder and advisor roles, he also worked as an investment manager for an early stage venture capital fund. After living and working in the States for a couple of years, Tim moved to Berlin and joined Vattenfall. With the green:field team he supports connecting people inside and outside the organization in order to create strategic partnerships and ventures.
    • Daniel Chennaoui (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/danielchennaoui.jpg
    • Portfolio Manager Connected Home
    • EnBW Innovations
    • http://www.enbw.com/innovations/
    • Daniel Chennaoui is a Portfolio Manager at EnBW AG and responsible for the Connected Home Vertical. In this position he is responsible for the strategy, setup and management of new business models in this sector. Daniel also manages inorganic growth as well as the connection of startups to the Connected Home portfolio. Before his work at EnBW he was Board Member, Partner, and Practice Lead Smart Energy at the strategy consulting boutique Arkwright Consulting. Daniel holds a degree in industrial engineering and management of the University of Technology Hamburg-Harburg and studied at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
    • Girish Nadkarni (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/girishnadkarni.jpg
    • CEO
    • Total Ventures
    • https://www.ventures.total
    • Girish Nadkarni is the Chief Executive Officer of Total Energy Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Total, S.A., based in Paris. Prior to that he was the founder and President of ABB Technology Ventures, the corporate venture arm of ABB. During his 15-year career at ABB, Girish ran the global automotive business for ABB’s Robotics Division, and was global head of strategy and marketing for the Automation Division. Girish started his career as an attorney on Wall Street with the firms of Coudert Brothers and Shearman & Sterling focusing on international banking and M&A. He started his business career at Prudential where, among other things, he was responsible for a portfolio of companies in various stages of workout, and was responsible for creating the innovative Pru-Shelf financing facility which currently has 750 customers with a portfolio value of $74 Billion. Next, he moved to GE Capital as head of business development for one of its then three divisions and GE where he worked for Jack Welch on strategy and business development. He moved to United Healthcare as chief operations officer. He left to found vSimplify, a VC funded startup which was a pioneer in the cloud based (ASP) business services area. Girish earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Bombay where he was a gold medalist, his masters of law degree from the University of Virginia which he attended as a DuPont Fellow, and an MBA from Harvard where he was designated a Baker Scholar. Girish has served on the boards of companies in the US, France, China, Israel and UK. He was also on the Investment Committee of Venture Incubator Partners, a CHF 100MM venture fund sponsored by major Swiss companies to invest in early stage Swiss companies. Girish is considered a thought leader in the area of corporate venture investing and is a frequent speaker at venture capital and industry conferences around the world. His advice is often sought by major companies which are looking to start or reposition their corporate venture groups. Girish has also served as advisor to the World Economic Forum and was on the selection committee to choose the WEF Technology Pioneers for a number of years. Girish has been listed on the Global Corporate Venturing Power List 100 for the past 4 years.
    • Dr. Sam Salisbury (Corporate VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/samsalisbury.jpg
    • Director Labs
    • Centrica Innovations
    • https://www.centrica.com/centrica-innovations
    • Sam Salisbury is a Director of Centrica’s newly formed venture, Centrica Innovations, where he leads the Innovation Lab. Centrica Innovations is an important part of achieving the company’s vision of meeting the changing needs of customers in the 21st century. Over the next five years £100 million will be invested in startups, giving Centrica access to technology and entrepreneurial capability. The Labs will provide startups with business support and access to Centrica’s customers, people and networks to help them grow their businesses. It will also support a culture of innovation within Centrica by providing the Lab’s services to support in-house ventures. Prior to building Centrica Innovations, Sam led the Centrica backed Ignite fund, the UK’s first impact investment fund with a focus on energy. Over the past three years, Ignite has provided £10m of investment to 18 enterprises. It differentiates itself from other funders by providing access to and support from Centrica’s people and network in the energy industry. Before Ignite, Sam worked in corporate strategy at Centrica and as a management consultant. He graduated from the University of Oxford with a D.Phil in Engineering Science.
    • Boris Lesjean (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/borislesjean.jpg
    • Innovation Director
    • Veolia Germany
    • http://veolia.de/u-start
    • Boris Lesjean is Innovation Director of Veolia Germany, in charge of the incubator program U-START for preseed startups. He graduated in 1997 as process engineer in France, and has since been working in Research and Innovation within the Veolia group, the world leader for environmental services.
    • Dr. Dirk Bessau (VC & Accelerator)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/dirkbessau.jpg
    • Director Berlin Office
    • InnoEnergy
    • http://www.innoenergy.com
    • Dirk Bessau is the manager of the InnoEnergy office in Berlin since July 2014 and Business Development Manager. He has a strong background and network in the German Energy industry. He started his carrier in the energy market in 2002 as an assistant to the CEO of a municipal utility, before he was member of the management board and head of the business development. Additionally, he was authorised officer of the corporate venture company. Afterwards he was managing director of one of the largest renewable energy associations in Europe and CEO to develop a new company for infrastructure services in the gas market – today, one of the largest European gas market areas. He is experienced in the transformation of the energy market, especially in energy production and renewables as well as in startup management and energy politics.
    • Stephan Schulze (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/stephanschulze.jpg
    • Investment Director
    • IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft
    • http://www.ibb-bet.de/
    • The IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft provides venture capital to innovative Berlin enterprises and has established itself as a market leader in the field of early stage financing in the location Berlin. Currently two of the funds managed by the IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft are in the investment phase, the VC Fonds Technologie Berlin with a fund size of € 52 million and the VC Fonds Kreativwirtschaft Berlin with a fund size of € 30 million. Stephan is Head of the Industrial Technologies Team and Prokurist of IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft. He joined the company in 1997. Stephan is responsible for identifying and especially implementing new investment opportunities in Berlin as well as developing portfolio companies and realising successful exits. Prior to joining IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft he was assistant of the general management of Arton Automobile, a supplier of electric powered vehicles, and developed with Herlitz Falkenhöh the Business Park Am Borsigturm. Stephan holds a degree of Mechanical Engineering and Management and is a graduate of Technical University Berlin.
    • Dessislawa Thordsen (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/dessislawathordsen.jpg
    • Key Account Manager Industry & Services
    • Investitionsbank Berlin
    • http://www.ibb.de
    • Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) is the business development bank of Berlin. IBB supports small and medium-sized enterprises in Berlin with subsidies, loan products and equity stakes developing targeted solutions for its clients.
      In doing so it works in close cooperation with all local commercial banks. Dessislawa Thordsen (Bankbetriebswirtin) studied at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. She entered the IBB in 1992 and worked in different sections of the IBB and Berlin Hyp. Since 2011 she is a Key Account Manager responsible for Berlin-based companies in the fields of industry and services.
    • Yann Fiebig (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/yannfiebig.jpg
    • Senior Investment Manager
    • High-Tech Gründerfonds
    • http://high-tech-gruenderfonds.de/en/
    • Yann Fiebig is a venture capital investor and works as Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). At HTGF Yann focuses on young, high potential high-tech startups in all deep tech fields (e.g. robotics, semicon, IoT, space, 3D-vision, …). Yann supports the founders and management of startups like OrbEx, Ferroelectric Memory or Fazua in strategic issues to build successful companies. Before joining HTGF Yann was part of the management team of Enovos, responsible for the balancing grid of the German power portfolio. Yann holds two master’s level degrees both in Electrical and Industrial Engineering from RWTH Aachen and Ecole Centrale Paris and was trained in value creation in venture capital at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management.
    • Ben Murphy (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/benmurphy.jpg
    • Cleantech Business Builder
    • IP Group
    • http://www.ipgroupplc.com
    • Ben has spent the last eight years commercialising innovative clean technologies. He represents IP Group on the board of various cleantech portfolio companies, whilst also seeking new high-growth investment opportunities. Previously, Ben has held roles in research institutes, government departments, NGOs and major corporates. Ben’s last role was in the Carbon Trust, working primarily with corporates and governments to analyse, plan and build multimillion pound low carbon innovation programmes. Ben led international expansion programmes for the Carbon Trust and represented the organisation on the steering committee of the UK’s leading energy system model, ESME. Prior to that Ben held roles in the primary research arm of the European Commission (the Joint Research Centre – specifically in the Climate Change team), in renewable energy consulting and in Google’s cleantech investment division. Ben holds a first class degree from Durham in Physics and Mathematics and an MSc in Environmental Technologies from Imperial College London.
    • Dr. Martin Kröner (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/martinkroener.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • Munich Venture Partners
    • http://www.munichvp.com
    • Martin Kröner is Managing Partner at Munich Venture Partners. He represents MVP in the Boards of Kebony, Luxexcel, Electrochaea, and Sonnen. He was co-founder and CEO of agnion Energy, a manufacturer of distributed power generation systems for converting wood-based biomass into electrical power and natural gas. Before his involvement with agnion, Martin worked for Linde AG, the global leader in technical gases. Martin is a mechanical engineer with a PhD in Thermodynamics and Combustion Research from the Technical University Munich.
    • Katya Akulinicheva (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/katyaakulinicheva.jpg
    • Chief Investment Officer
    • Systemiq
    • https://www.systemiq.earth
    • Katya joined SYSTEMIQ in September 2016 to help build and run the investment side of SYSTEMIQ, as she is passionate about finding creative ways to mobilize private capital towards social and environmental issues and is keen to deploy her experience in finance towards this aim. Katya is currently acting as Chief Investment Officer, overseeing our emerging investment activities. Katya studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University and got her MBA from INSEAD. Prior to SYSTEMIQ, she spent 1 year at Dalberg Global Development Advisors working on impact investment/innovative finance, and at 3 years in Private Equity at the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $10bn Sovereign Wealth Fund in Russia, originating and executing investments in agriculture, retail, e-commerce and financial services. She began her career in M&A, working at Lazard and Deutsche Bank in London in the Consumer & Retail sector. In her spare time, she likes to run (half-marathons, marathons, ultra-marathons) and travel. She is a volunteer for London+Acumen (impact investing network) and Techfugees (tech community response to the refugee crisis) and a mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation.
    • Dr. Phil Larochelle (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/phillarochelle.jpg
    • Principal
    • Breakthrough Energy Ventures
    • http://www.b-t.energy/ventures/
    • Phil Larochelle is an Investment Principal at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, based in Boston, MA in the United States. Prior to joining BEV, Phil was a Senior Technical Program Manager at Google X working on several early stage energy technology projects, and before that as an Associate on the Google Energy and Renewable Energy Investment Teams. He was a Fellow working at the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), the Senior Energy Analyst at The Alliance for Climate Protection, and an Alternative Power and Energy Storage Analyst at Lux Research. Phil holds a PhD in Physics from Harvard University and a BSc in Physics with a Minor in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    • Julia Padberg (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/juliapadberg.jpg
    • Investment Manager
    • SET Ventures
    • http://www.setventures.com
    • Julia Padberg is an Investment Manager at SET Ventures, who joined the team in February 2016. Julia is responsible for deal flow sourcing, due diligence, supporting portfolio companies as well as portfolio reporting and overall portfolio management. She is also responsible for internal in-depth industry reviews and she serves as an observer on the board of energyworx and GreenCom. Julia’s relevant skills and areas of expertise are in: identifying market opportunities, critically assessing business cases, financial structuring and modelling, performing and coordinating due diligence processes and drafting presentations, information memoranda and term sheets. Before joining SET Ventures, Julia worked at consultancy firm Triple Bridge BV as a financial consultant, with a specialisation in the renewable energy sector. She was involved in establishing renewable energy projects and companies, building business cases, setting up and reviewing financial models, organising and structuring financing including the largest solar PV crowdfunding campaign so far in the Netherlands (for Rooftop Energy Group), negotiating term sheets, acquiring new business and advising regional energy funds on investment opportunities and growth strategies. Prior to working at Triple Bridge, she worked at Dutch investment bank Kempen & Co in the corporate finance department, specialising in renewable energy and cleantech. She performed financial and market analyses, drafted management presentations, teaser documents and information memoranda, coordinated due diligence processes, assisted in acquiring new mandates, and organised the Cleantech Challenge (60 young entrepreneurs) on an annual basis. At Kempen & Co, Julia was involved in – amonst other transactions – the sale of all Benelux activities of Dong Energy to Eneco, the IPOs of Infinis, Hess and Electrawinds, the sale of Kema to DNV, the refinancing of Westland Infra and the legal merger of preferred stock funds Ducatus and De Zonnewijser. Julia holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental & Resource Economics from UCL (University of London), UK.
    • Dr. Alois Flatz (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/aloisflatz.jpg
    • Senior Advisor
    • Generation Investment Management
    • http://www.generationim.com
    • For more than 25 years, Alois Flatz has focused exclusively on the interface of investing and sustainable development. With extensive investment and management experience, he is the co-founder and partner of several private equity and boutique financial advisory businesses. He is a seasoned company builder, a serial business angel investor in numerous high-tech impact startups, and member of multiple management and non-operative boards. Alois is currently a Senior Advisor to Generation Investment Management, a leading sustainability investment boutique with offices in London, New York, and San Francisco. As a Managing Partner of Zouk Capital, Alois built and exited high growth companies, including SiC Processing, va-Q-tec, and The Mobility House, some of the most successful European cleantech investments in recent years. Prior to this, Alois was Partner at SAM Sustainable Asset Management in Zurich, where he co-founded the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and headed-up its Research team, rated No #1 in the World. He co-founded and served as Chairman of the Board for Forma Futura, an independent sustainable asset management company. Alois is a published author and speaker on sustainable and cleantech investing. He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, studied International Management at HEC in Paris, and has an MBA from the Vienna University of Economics.
    • Michael Wilshire (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/michaelwilshire.jpg
    • Head of Strategy
    • Bloomberg New Energy Finance
    • http://www.bnef.com
    • Michael is Head of Strategy at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, leading the teams that produce research on clean energy including Bioenergy, Wind, Solar, Energy Smart Technologies, Carbon Capture & Storage and geothermal. Before joining Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Michael was a partner at McKinsey, where he consulted across a range of industries including energy, technology and telecoms. He worked with equipment providers and operators across Europe as well as in Asia and the US. Previously, Michael worked in the UK Department of Energy in the 1980s across a variety of energy policy areas, including one of the very earliest privatisations (Amersham International), as well as deregulation of the gas industry, renewable energy, nuclear policy and the financing and privatisation of the electricity industry. During that period he was also private secretary to both the Minister of State for Energy and the Permanent Secretary.
    • David Hunt (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/davidhunt.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • Hyperion Executive Search
    • http://hyperionsearch.co.uk
    • David Hunt is Managing Partner of clean energy executive search specialists Hyperion Executive Search. He has been in the clean energy sector since 2007 and held posts on the Policy Board of the UK Renewable Energy Association (REA), Chaired the Pan-European Energy Storage Alliance and sits on the Low Carbon Economy Board for the Liverpool City LEP. He also spent 7 years as director of an award winning high growth, multi-technology renewable energy company, before setting up Hyperion in 2014.
    • Alisa Murphy (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alisamurphy.jpg
    • CEO
    • Life Size Media
    • http://www.lifesizemedia.com
    • Alisa is the Founder and CEO of Life Size Media, one of the only communications agencies in Europe that chooses to work exclusively in cleantech. Over the last five years, Alisa and her team have delivered award-winning campaigns for some of the leading individuals, businesses, products and services in the sustainability sector. As a full service agency, Life Size Media’s work spans public relations, brand, design, marketing, digital and film. Alisa was previously the CEO of B9 Coal, a clean energy project development company that she developed into a key player in the CCS industry while leading an extensive public relations campaign to promote awareness of the technology and the key issues around de-carbonizing the power sector. She was also the Co-Founder of Life Slice Films, an independent film company producing documentary films to raise awareness of key social issues.
    • Gerard Reid (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/gerardreid.jpg
    • Founder
    • Alexa Capital
    • http://alexa-capital.com
    • Gerard Reid has over two decades’ experience in equity research and fund management. He is also a leading energy expert as well as lecturer, author and monthly columnist for Biz Energy Today, the German energy industry publication. Prior to founding Alexa Capital, he was Managing Director and Head of European Cleantech Research at Jefferies & Co. Before joining Jefferies Mr. Reid managed a renewable energy fund. Prior to this he was Head of Research at First Berlin where he expanded the equity research operation to cover 50 companies. Gerard Reid has broad relationships across the institutional and private investor communities as well as amongst government policy makers, utilities and technology providers to the energy area. He has developed a reputation as a leading global expert in renewable energy and the wider energy space through his work in the wind, solar, biofuels, natural gas, utility and European industrials sectors. Mr. Reid is an Adjunct Professor at Imperial College, London and lecturer at the University of Applied Science in Berlin, where he has been lecturing in international business for over a decade. Mr. Reid holds a Higher Diploma in Education and MA Business & Economics from Trinity College, Dublin.
    • Julien Deconinck (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/juliendeconinck.jpg
    • Partner
    • Clermount
    • http://www.clermountpartners.com
    • Julien Deconinck has 17 years of experience in Corporate Finance and advised on M&A transactions representing an aggregate value of more than EUR 40 billion. Before founding Clermount, Julien was Executive Director in the Corporate Finance Department of Societé Generale where he focused primarily on the Power & Utilities sectors, heading the renewable energy corporate finance practice. Prior to joining Societé Generale, Julien was an investment banker at Lazard and HSBC and an investment associate at Parcom Capital. Julien is a board member of Tarkett, a leading global floor covering manufacturer and a reference in the circular economy. He graduated in business from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) and in software development from Makers Academy.
    • Matthias Willenbacher (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/matthiaswillenbacher.jpg
    • CEO
    • Wiwin
    • https://www.wiwin.de
    • Matthias Willenbacher has founded the juwi group in 1996. For nearly 20 years he was the CEO of the company being responsible for planning and implementing renewable energy constructions. With more than 1000 employees in 15 countries the juwi group has initiated the implementation of projects worth more than € 6 billion. Nowadays Matthias Willenbacher is a well-known entrepreneur, visionary and consultant around renewable energy. The owner and managing director of the crowdfunding platform wiwin GmbH is striving to make the world a better place through supporting sustainable projects. Therefore, he also invests and assists startups with sustainable background (e.g. Sono Motors). The graduated physicist has been honored numerous times, e.g. being named “Entrepreneur of the year” by Ernst & Young in 2009.
    • Christoph Sollich (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christophsollich.jpg
    • Founder
    • The Pitch Doctor
    • http://pitchdoctor.com
    • Christoph is known as The Pitch Doctor in Berlin and beyond. After working in advertising, he got into startups in 2007. For the last 4 years, he’s helped 100s of startups improve the way they pitch to investors, partners etc. He’s a mentor/coach for dozens of accelerators, incubators and startup competitions around Europe and MENA.
    • Jan Michael Hess (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/janmichaelhess.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ecosummit
    • https://ecosummit.net
    • Jan is Founder of Ecosummit and General Partner of Ecosummit Ventures. Ecosummit accelerates smart green startups, investors and corporates. Our vision is to automate sustainability in energy, mobility and cities. Our conferences are startup markets enabling business development, co-investing, open innovation, corporate venturing and M&A. Since 2010, Jan organised 19 conferences in 5 countries. Ecosummit TV on YouTube provides over 1.000 videos (430.000 views). Ecosummit Ventures will be a new smart green impact VC targeted at €50M that invests in European software and hardware startups in energy, mobility and cities. Prior to founding Mobile Economy GmbH in 2000, Jan worked for Pixelpark, Icon Medialab and Ciao as Strategic Planner, Project Manager and Head of Marketing and Sales. Holding a business degree from the University of Mannheim, he lives in Berlin with his wife Simone and their son Mateo and is a big fan of Yoga, Japan and Jazz.
    • Christoph Ostermann (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christophostermann.jpg
    • CEO
    • Sonnen
    • https://www.sonnenbatterie.de
    • Christoph Ostermann is Co-Founder and CEO of Sonnen GmbH, being with its Solar Battery product range one of the pioneers in the residential battery storage market. Solar Battery is a highly innovative, intelligent battery system offering much more than just an energy storage solution. The system comprises several added value features such as smart home, smart meter, PV-monitoring and UPS. Since its market launch in early 2011 several hundreds of Solar Batteries have been sold only in Germany. Christoph began his career with KMC Management Consultants, a leading management consulting firm focused on sales and marketing expertise, where he was Managing Partner and Co-Founder of a branch office. Since 2005 he is in the renewable energy business, where he has been involved in several companies as CEO, entrepreneur and/or consultant. Christoph graduated in 1997 with a degree in Business Administration from the University of Bayreuth.
    • Dr. Carsten Bether (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/carstenbether.jpg
    • Co-Founder
    • Kiwigrid
    • https://www.kiwigrid.com/?lang=en
    • Dr.-Ing. Carsten Bether, Co-Founder of Kiwigrid GmbH, is a very dedicated smart grid expert having 15 years of experience within the IT and energy sector. After studying Business Administration and Engineering at the Technology University of Dresden, he worked as a software consultant, CTO and Founder of several companies within the IT industry. While being engaged as an Innovation Manager at Deutsche Telekom, he obtained his PhD at the Technical University of Berlin and Stanford Unversity. Since founding Kiwigrid in 2011, Dr. Bether focuses on software for energy IoT solutions and value-added services in the rapidly changing energy industry.
    • Dr. Frank Pawlitschek (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/frankpawlitschek.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ubitricity
    • http://www.ubitricity.com/en
    • Frank Pawlitschek (PhD), LL.M., is co-founder and managing director of ubitricity, a company founded in 2008 to offer new services for users of electric vehicles. Frank gained experience as a software developer in Germany and in Silicon Valley as a student before he began his legal education in Germany, New Zealand and the United States. After finishing his legal studies with distinction, he completed his doctoral thesis in law and became an attorney in leading international and domestic law firms. For many years he advised large and mid-sized international clients in the field of high-tech, corporate and regulatory law. Since 2011, Frank is also advisor to Forum Elektromobilitaet, a German E-Mobility network platform. He’s in addition member of the Executive Committee of the Berlin-Brandenburg Energy Network and Member of Germany’s National Platform for Electric Mobility which has been created by the German government.
    • Dr. Felix Grolman (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/felixgrolman.jpg
    • CEO
    • Shine
    • https://www.shinepowered.com
    • The industry expert and entrepreneur Dr. Felix Grolman is CEO of the young company Shine, which is positioned to bridge the gap between energy and data driven businesses. Felix previously established a renewable energy utility and direct marketing player with over 160m EUR in revenues, that encompassed power trading and direct power delivery. After he sold its business activities in 2016, the economist and lawyer has taken on a new task: to lead Shine to its goal of making decentralised and renewable energy financially independent, profitable and accessible to everyone. Felix had for the last 10 years been a founder, investor and advisor for renewable energy and the digital economy. Following the growing importance of energy and energy production, he has established himself as an active advocate and expert for renewable energies in Germany and Europe. He previously held positions with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Morgan Stanley in London and with the Boston Consulting Group in Zurich, before establishing his own companies within the renewable energy space. Felix also serves on the board of several young digital start-ups and has worked and lived in the USA, the UK, Spain, France, Switzerland and Germany. With his activities Felix wants to put pressure onto the traditional energy economy which ties customers to annual contracts and sells its products using confusing tariff structures. With his new company he intends to bring us all one step closer to a world of abundant energy at zero marginal costs the in which the only non-infrastructure value creation will be in the intelligent selection, distribution and utilisation of energy from all sources.
    • Michael De Vivo (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/michaeldevivo.jpg
    • CEO
    • DEPsys
    • http://www.depsys.ch
    • Michael De Vivo received his Master of Science degree in Engineering in the field of Power systems at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) in 2011. He specializes in electrical grids, namely in monitoring and control systems for low-voltage networks. From 2009 to 2012, he worked at the IESE Institute (Institute of Energy and Electrical System) where he was led to simulate, design, develop, implement and control power electronics systems. He was responsible of the power electronic laboratory and electromechanical systems laboratory for Bachelor and Master courses. After winning several startup contests and awards, he co-founded the company DEPsys. As CEO Michael coordinates all the company’s activities. He is at the heart of the Business strategy, Business development, Sales, communication and fundraising (>5M CHF from 2016). Leader and visionary, Michael is an execution-oriented person with a strong passion for entrepreneurship.
    • Dr. Thomas Goette (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomasgoette.jpg
    • CEO
    • GreenPocket
    • https://www.greenpocket.com
    • Dr. Thomas Goette is CEO of GreenPocket, one of the leading specialists for smart metering and smart home software. As an expert for the energy and internet business, he regularly appears in the trade press and is invited as a speaker to national and international events. In 2012, the economy magazine Wirtschaftswoche and Daimler nominated him as one of the top 100 online trendsetters in Germany. Prior to joining GreenPocket he founded and built up a social media startup. Before that he worked as a partner at the consulting firms Oliver Wyman (2006-2007), Diamond Cluster (2001-2006) and Roland Berger Strategy (1993-2000). He holds a degree in business administration from the University of Göttingen and a PhD in the area of Marketing and Finance.
    • Yüksel Sirmasac (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/yuekselsirmasac.jpg
    • CEO
    • Rockethome
    • http://rockethome.de/en
    • Yüksel Sirmasac holds a degree in business administration and is CEO and Founder of Rockethome. Early 2010, he founded the company together with investors from the cleantech scene. Before founding Rockethome, Yüksel Sirmasac worked several years in senior management positions at various well-known companies including media group RTL, Reed-Elsevier Germany (LexisNexis), Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt (Holtzbrinck). There, he successfully established numerous products in the market. In addition, he has already developed several technology companies to sustainably successful organizations. To pass on his knowledge to students he has taken a lectureship in the field of e-business and industrial computer science at the University of Applied Sciences in Bergisch Gladbach.
    • Philipp Pausder (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/philipppausder.jpg
    • CEO
    • Thermondo
    • http://www.thermondo.de
    • Philipp is the Co-Founder and CEO of Thermondo. Thermondo is a revolutionary technology-driven provider of heat solutions, algorithm-based customized quotes and nationwide delivery. The company brings heat solutions to residential customers faster, digital and at highest quality. Based on an online platform and an in-house developed IT infrastructure, customers can compare customized solution packages in a quick, easy and cost-effective way. As a result of this process and the advice provided by Thermondo sales consultants, homeowners choose and purchase the system that best fits their needs. Thermondo also installs the heating systems with in-house technicians in 10 metropolitan areas in Germany. Prior to Thermondo, Philipp founded Clean Venture, a boutique M&A advisory firm for distributed energy deals. Clean Venture advised on deals across 4 continents with a total value greater than $1 billion. Before starting his own firm, Philipp worked for Applied Value, a Stockholm-based strategy and investment firm. Philipp was recognized as Global Champion of Sustainable Innovation 2007 by Thunderbird University, USA for his development of business models for emerging markets. Philipp started his career as a global marketing manager at adidas AG launching innovation concepts to a global market place. He holds an MBA in Finance with highest distinction from IE Business School, Madrid and an MA in Business and Mass Communication from FU Berlin.
    • Leopold von Bismarck (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/leopoldvonbismarck.jpg
    • Co-Founder
    • Tado
    • http://www.tado.com
    • Leopold von Bismarck is CMO at tado°. He has worked in the internet industry since 2008 and was previously employed at the venture capital investor and incubator Rocket Internet for four years. At Rocket Internet Leo helped to create several online startups from scratch with a focus on online marketing and e-commerce. Before joining tado° he was Head of Online Marketing at Groupon where he lead a team of 150 employees across 40 countries. Leo holds a Dipl.-Ing. in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Technical University of Berlin. At tado° Leo is responsible for marketing and direct sales. He is passionate about growing international and technology-driven companies with a good mix of performance and creative marketing.
    • Thomas Gottschalk (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomasgottschalk.jpg
    • CEO
    • Mobisol
    • http://www.plugintheworld.com
    • Thomas Gottschalk is Founder and Managing Director of Mobisol, a company that combines solar energy with innovative mobile technology and microcredit to provide high-quality solar home systems to low-income individuals in developing countries. He is a visionary entrepreneur with a solid background in renewable energy technologies, implemented solar thermal systems in Egypt and spent 18 months driving around the world in a solar-powered car called Solartaxi. Gottschalk holds a Master’s degree in renewable energy engineering from the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and founded the Thinktank ‘Energiewende’. Within just five years Thomas grew a team from scratch to over 700 people – raising Mobisol from startup to strong brand in EA.
    • Dr. Christian Chudoba (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christianchudoba.jpg
    • CEO
    • Lumenaza
    • http://www.lumenaza.de
    • Christian Chudoba is Co-Founder and CEO of Lumenaza. He has held leading roles in business management, strategy, business development and marketing for 15 years. For a corporate company he developed a new business concept for mobile applications and led the implementation from a small internal startup to a sizable new business area. Christian holds a PhD in Physics and worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) prior to moving to the software business.
    • Dr. Ignasi Vilajosana (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/ignasivilajosana.jpg
    • CEO
    • Worldsensing
    • https://www.worldsensing.com
    • Ignasi is CEO of Worldsensing, with over 12 years of experience in the IOT sector. He holds a PhD in Physics where he has authored numerous high impact publications. Ignasi has strong experience in all stages of company startup, development and growth. He also has a strong background in fundraising, strategy and business growth projects, and he has received business training from Harvard Business School and IESE to lead Worldsensing strategy. In August 2014, Ignasi was presented as the first high-impact Spanish Endeavor Entrepreneur by the prestigious global non-profit organization Endeavor, dedicated to selecting and accelerating high impact entrepreneurs. In 2016, Ignasi was named as one of the top 100 Leaders of Tomorrow by the Choiseul foundation and the Catalan entrepreneur of the year. In 2017, he was awarded as one of the 40 under 40 entrepreneurs from the IESE business School. Under his leadership, Worldsensing has grown within a few years into a leader in the Industrial Internet space. Worldsensing offers complete end-to-end technology and service solutions that help transforming their clients’ value chains. He has focused Worldsensing onto some key emerging markets, notably the smart city and industrial markets.
    • Bart Markus (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/bartmarkus.jpg
    • Chairman
    • First Light Fusion
    • http://firstlightfusion.com
    • Apart from being a veteran Investor, Bart is a seasoned and passionate entrepreneur and is renowned for his relentless drive to internationalise companies and help them become successful beyond Europe by conquering the US or Asia. A Dutch native, he has been a General Partner at Wellington from 2000 to 2015 and played a significant role in building Wellington from a €50M fund in 1999 to a well-established player in the European VC market with some €800M of assets under management. Over the past 2 decades, Bart has invested in an impressive collection of deep IP Technology companies located in Europe and the US. Many have already made the successful leap to the US or are successfully opening up new foreign markets. Investments include Navteq (NASDAQ IPO in 2004: NVT; sold to Nokia in 2007), Meiosys (sold to IBM in 2005), Nawotec (sold to Carl Zeiss in 2005), Q-Layer (sold to Sun Microsystems in 2009), Cavendish Kinetics and GLO. Bart spent the past 18 years as an investor in deep tech companies, and additionally as a serial entrepreneur himself co-founded by now 6 companies including Hexagem, a defect-free GaN substrate technology company and the MRI Centre, a highly successful chain of private medical diagnostic clinics. He currently chairs a number of high profile companies like First Light Fusion (Fusion Energy), Orbex (Rockets), Ultimaker (3D printing) and Hexagem (GaN nanowire substrates) and serves on the board of a number of other deep tech companies. Bart started his career as a process control system and project engineer with Shell in Norway and then worked at McKinsey, both in the Netherlands and South Africa. Bart holds an MSc in Applied Physics from Twente University of Technology in the Netherlands and an MBA (with distinction) from INSEAD in France.
    • Michel Morvan (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/michelmorvan.jpg
    • Executive Chairman
    • Cosmo Tech
    • https://cosmotech.com
    • Before co-founding Cosmo Tech Michel was Chief Scientist and Vice President for Strategic Intelligence and Innovation at Veolia Environment. He is a former Full Professor of Computer Science at École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, former Chair of Complex Systems Modeling and Senior Scientist at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and former External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. He is an Eisenhower Fellow.
    • Edwin Poot (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/edwinpoot.jpg
    • Founder
    • Energyworx
    • http://www.energyworx.com
    • Edwin is President, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Energyworx. Edwin is the company mastermind who never stops working. He sets the pace of progress as he always thinks steps ahead when it comes to market demands and developing creative solutions. Many experts have declared him a fool but he’s proven them obsolete every single time. Edwin has what it takes: The worx. Edwin comes to Energyworx with over 18 years of IT experience in finance, telecom, energy and utilities. Prior to founding the company in 2006, he worked for a variety of companies delivering innovative technology solutions to complex business problems. He is a multi-disciplinary software technology specialist and enterprise IT architect, designing complex multi-channel and service-oriented architectures (SOA), delivering high-tech solutions for large banking, telecom and utility companies. The past ten years he has been working for several energy companies on strategic level, defining enterprise IT strategies and roadmaps. He has been an entrepreneur for more than 10 years and ran his own consulting firm delivering innovative software development and architecture solutions. Edwin finds challenge in designing and developing sophisticated data management, analytics and data visualization models supporting the flood of data that is entering the smart grid in the energy and utilities sector. He firmly believes that cloud technology will play an important role in the shift towards energy democracy driven by people and communities, leading the way as a pioneer by founding the Energyworx company.
    • Karl Bohman (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/karlbohman.jpg
    • CEO
    • SaltX
    • http://saltxtechnology.com
    • Karl Bohman joined SaltX Technology in 2011 and is its CEO since 2014. Master of Science in Industrial Economics at Linköping University of Technology, and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Leadership Education at Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA. Board member and CEO of ClimateWell AB. Board member of ClimateWell Core Technologies AB. Total of 16 years of experience in engineering and business development in entrepreneurial companies and organizations, such as CEO and founder of a wireless security company for freight containers sold to GE Security. Prior Innovation Cell Manager at Ericsson Business Innovation. International experience of several years in the US and Asia. Winner of the Swedish IBM Smarter Planet 2010.
    • Dr. Christian Feißt (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christianfeisst.jpg
    • CEO
    • GreenCom Networks
    • http://www.greencom-networks.com
    • Christian was the Founder and Managing Director for Smart Grid at Cisco Systems. Before joining Cisco, Dr. Christian Feißt spent 10 years working in the utility industry for the management consultancies A.T. Kearney and Booz Allen Hamilton. He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Hohenheim.
    • Thomas Koller (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomaskoller.jpg
    • CEO
    • Enersis
    • http://www.enersis.ch/?lang=en
    • Thomas Koller is CEO and founder of enersis suisse AG Switzerland. Before starting enersis as a consulting and software company for the energy sector in 2004 Thomas has had various consulting and sales positions both in startups and a Fortune 500 company. Thomas has been in IT and energy business more than 18 years in national and international environments, designing and selling complex and big IT solutions for Fortune 500 companies. Thomas´ passion is to find possibilities of applying technology to real world problems. His goal is to make a measurable contribution to the energy change.
    • Thorsten Heller (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thorstenheller.jpg
    • CEO
    • Greenbird
    • https://www.greenbird.com
    • Thorsten Heller is the CEO at Greenbird, responsible for accelerating the energy revolution for utilities with Metercloud. Thorsten has long-term international experience from the energy industry as a CTO, integration developer, product manager, enterprise architect, technology advisor and technology evangelist. He is a much sought-after speaker on system integration within the utility industry, and a leading social media influencer on open source technology. He holds a Master of Science in Software Engineering and Information Technology from the Cooperative State University Mosbach.
    • Dr. Simon Koopmann (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/simonkoopmann.jpg
    • CEO
    • Envelio
    • http://envelio.de
    • Dr. Simon Koopmann is co-founder and CEO of envelio. envelio is a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University and provides a smart grids software platform for grid operators based on innovative optimization and machine learning algorithms. With its solution, envelio supports the next phase of the energy transition by digitalizing processes with the latest research results. Simon previously received his diploma and PhD degree from RWTH Aachen, where he was also Head of the Distributed Energy Systems research group.
    • Hendrik Klosterkemper (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/hendrikklosterkemper.jpg
    • CEO
    • ENIT Systems
    • https://www.enit-systems.com/en/home/
    • Hendrik Klosterkemper is Co-Founder and CEO of ENIT Systems, one of the pioneers of state-of-the-art IT for energy systems in industrial plants. After five years of development at the Fraunhofer ISE, the spin-off just introduced ENIT Agent, a pulse meter for industrial plants, that visualizes all energy consumption data for each machine and meter. Besides leveraging cost saving potentials, customers gain a new understanding for the processes and their interdependencies. Hendrik has been working for The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) since 2011, where he was a member of the Industrial Goods and Energy Practice group. For BCG clients, Hendrik took the role of an IT project leader and developed strategies in the field of heavy manufacturing, IT and Energy. He also conducted M&A divestitures and consulted energy providers and grid operators. Prior to BCG, Hendrik worked for the Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg as a scientific associate. Here he was already fascinated by the development of OpenMUC, the software framework that is now the enabling technology of the ENIT Agent. Already in 2010 Hendrik contributed to the development of optimization algorithms for controlling combined heat and power plants. In 2014 Hendrik founded ENIT Systems with his former colleagues Simon Fey and Pascal Benoit. At ENIT Systems, Hendrik’s focus as CEO lies on the strategy and business development. Hendrik holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Technical University Dresden and the London School of Economics.
    • Laurin Hahn (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/laurinhahn.jpg
    • CEO
    • Sono Motors
    • https://sonomotors.com
    • Two years have passed since Laurin Hahn founded Sono Motors together with his friends Navina and Jona – and until this day, their vision hasn’t changed: providing a mobility concept for a future without mineral oil and emissions. Supported by a huge community from the beginning on, Sono Motors has evolved from a crowdfunding project to one of the most promising newcomers in the automotive world. Before Laurin became one of the two CEOs of Sono Motors, the 24-year-old already co-founded several companies, earning money to build the first prototype of Sono Motors’ solar car Sion in a garage.
    • Heikki Suonsivu (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/heikkisuonsivu.jpg
    • Chairman
    • Parking Energy
    • http://www.parkingenergy.com
    • Heikki Suonsivu studied at the Helsinki University of Technology (Finland) and holds a Masters Degree in Computer Science. He has founded a number of companies in the fields of telecommunications, communications equipment, and co-founded or advised a number of companies in various technology areas. Mr. Suonsivu is Chairman and CTO of Parking Energy.
    • Avishai Trabelsi (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/avishaitrabelsi.jpg
    • CEO
    • Quicargo
    • http://quicargo.com/en/
    • Avishai Trabelsi is the CEO and co-founder of Quicargo, an online marketplace for shippers and carriers to benefit from unutilized truck loading spaces. After years of working in his family’s transportation firm RT-Fresh in Israel, young entrepreneur Avishai grew frustrated as he saw trucks returning from their destinations empty or nearly empty and decided that this global issue needs to be solved. Avishai, a CPA in his original profession, left his home country (Israel) to pursue his dream of ensuring that Quicargo would transform the road freight industry and launched operations in Europe in 2017. Today, he is managing Quicargo with their HQ in Amsterdam. The entrepreneur recently raised 1.3M EUR for his startup and continues to pursue the next challenge of expansion throughout Europe with an additional round of investment in progress. In his free time, Avishai enjoys mentoring young students who aim to innovate and yoga.
    • Stephan Leppler (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/stephanleppler.jpg
    • CEO
    • MotionTag
    • https://motion-tag.com
    • Stephan Leppler is one of the founders and CEO of MotionTag. Having studied Environmental Engineering at the TU Berlin, it’s his interest in technological innovations that keeps him going. Working for over 7 years in the field of mobility consulting at the “Innovation Center for Mobility and Societal Change (InnoZ)” and in the “Infrastructure and enterprises division of the institute for applied ecology (Öko-Institut)” Stephan achieved great expertise and built a broad network. Before founding MotionTag, he successfully led his own team at InnoZ for over 2 years. The profound knowledge of accounting and modeling in his 2013 research paper got him a national award in the field of e-mobility.
    • Kristjan Maruste (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/kristjanmaruste.jpg
    • CEO
    • Comodule
    • http://www.comodule.com
    • Kristjan Maruste is a tech entrepreneur. Prior to starting his own company he was the faculty advisor and project manager of engineering and product development project called Formula Student. Maruste lead the development and construction of 6 Formula Student racecar prototypes, including full-electric. Maruste and his team proved to be one of the best young automotive engineers in the World by ranking TOP5 amongst 500 teams globally. Later Maruste and his team developed a data monitoring platform for EVs. COMODULE creates a universal operating system for light electric vehicles (e-bikes and e-scooters). It enables new digital business models for vehicle manufacturers as well as for fleet and sharing operators.
    • Christian Rood (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christianrood.jpg
    • CEO
    • LeydenJar Technologies
    • http://www.leyden-jar.com
    • Christian Rood (MBA) is Co-Founder and CEO at LeydenJar Technologies. Christian is a Dutch entrepreneur and sweat investor in a number of technology ventures; advisor roles in venture funding, spin off, and license deals. Industry expertise in cleantech and healthcare. Background as investment manager, investment banker and strategy consultant. Started venture development boutique Road to Value in 2009. Clients include entrepreneurs, investors, technology institutes, and large corporates.
    • Simon Daniel (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/simondaniel.jpg
    • CEO
    • Moixa
    • http://www.moixa.com
    • Simon Daniel is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Moixa, holding a dozen US patents on advanced mobile and battery technology. He previously invented/licensed a folding keyboard – selling over 2m units, and launched the award winning USBCell battery category. Before that, he was a technology evangelist and senior manager at Accenture and holds an MA in Physics from Cambridge University.
    • Charlotta Holmquist (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/charlottaholmquist.jpg
    • Co-founder
    • Blixt
    • http://blixt.tech
    • Charlotta Holmquist is a serial entrepreneur and has been in the ICT industry for over 15 years. During her five startups, which she managed as CEO/COO and Co-founder, she has been responsible for raising over 10 million Euros, managing company exits and creating strategic partnerships with global companies. She is hands-on in operations, engaged in tech and customer development and a key player in the board and legal. She holds an MBA and has previously been Chief Analyst at Salomon Smith Barney in Chile.
    • Henrik Båge (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/henrikbage.jpg
    • Co-Founder
    • Phoenix BioPower
    • http://phoenixbiopower.com
    • Henrik is heading the business development and funding activities of Phoenix BioPower. Henrik brings more than 15 years of experience in finance, private funding and business development in the clean tech sector. Henrik holds a Pol. Mag in Economics.
    • Per Hansson (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/perhansson.jpg
    • CTO
    • SWATAB
    • http://phoenixbiopower.com
    • Per is CTO of SWATAB (Scandinavian Water Technology AB), a Swedish company with a focus on a sustainable society. With a new patented product, DIRO®, SWATAB can offer everyone an opportunity to wash their clothes completely chemical-free. For us, the key words health, environment, energy and economy are always at the forefront of development and manufacturing. To maintain a world for future generations we need to reduce the strain on the earth. SWATAB’s filter system DIRO® makes normal detergent chemicals redundant and reduces energy usage during laundry and dishwashing processes.
    • Martin Spitznagel (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/martinspitznagel.jpg
    • CEO
    • Dust Biosolutions
    • http://dustbiosolutions.com
    • Martin is founder and CEO of Dust BioSolutions, a fast growing industrial biotechnology company based in Munich, Germany. He strongly believes that white biotechnology will provide many enabling technologies to solve major environmental and social problems of the future. Dust BioSolutions is the no.1 address for biological binders for industrial applications. First products derived from a technology platform are liquids that contain bacteria that bond almost any permeable material. Main clients are currently in agriculture, mining and construction. Martin holds a MSc in Mechanical Engineering with specialisation in robotics and control systems from ETH Zurich and UC Berkeley. He further received an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid.
    • Rupert Newland (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rupertnewland.jpg
    • CEO
    • Arenko
    • https://arenko.group
    • Rupert founded Arenko in 2014 to build a world class energy storage business. He is on the company’s Board of Directors and is the Chief Executive. Rupert leads the growth and direction of Arenko as well as having overall responsibility for the day to day activities of the company. The company is currently building one of the world’s largest battery systems in the UK which will provide enough flexible power for 100,000 homes, and has also developed a proprietary technology platform, ARION to operate its energy assets. ARION is a high-performance data stream processing system that collects massive amounts of data from multiple information sources simultaneously. It carries out complex analyses and simulations in near-real-time, and accordingly, executes optimal trading strategies to generate maximum performance and revenues for energy assets. Through Rupert’s leadership, Arenko is addressing a major commercial opportunity and market need which is fundamental to the long-term sustainability of our energy system and provides long term value to consumers.
    • Rob Merrington (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/robmerrington.jpg
    • Head of Marketing
    • Onzo
    • http://www.onzo.com
    • Rob began his marketing career at Royal Sun Alliance in the early 90’s. Learning his craft, selling life and pension products, through multi direct marketing channels. He joined WWAV Rapp Collins and later Evans Hunt Scott, to gain invaluable agency experience, working predominantly on financial service clients such as Commercial Union, Legal and General and BACS, as well a number of travel accounts. Moving back to client side, Rob joined British Gas at the time of deregulation of the energy market, and later lead the communication planning and deployment for the businesses entry into telecom and insurance markets in the UK. Rob joined EDF Energy in 2004, responsible for all elements of the communications and channel mix, attaining to retaining and increasing customers value. He was a member of the management team responsible for moving away from the historic regional branding of the business and launching EDF Energy within the UK. Rob was promoted to Head of Brand Communications in 2009 and was part of the lead management team responsible for the successful development and launch of Zingy and Feel Better Energy, which changed EDF Energy’s awareness and leading key brand equities. He was responsible for the 3 year sponsorship and associated activation programme of the EDF Energy London Eye and led the communications activation for the sponsorship of the Olympic Games, achieving the most recognised domestic sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Rob joined the residential part of the EDF Energy business, as Head of Marketing Communications, in February 2015, responsible for all advertising and direct acquisition activity, as well as increasing value and retaining customers through online and offline communications. In October of 2016 Rob was asked to join Bluelab, the EDF Energy innovation lab, and developed and secured funding to launch the new startup Hoppy, a home service digital platform which helps manage household finances and maintain and improve your home. He left Bluelab in April 2017, to join a fintech startup as CMO. Rob joined ONZO in January 2018 as Head of Marketing. Rob has the CIM Marketing Diploma and studied Business and Marketing at the University of Bedfordshire.
    • Arjen Noorbergen (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/arjennoorbergen.jpg
    • Founder
    • Olisto
    • https://olisto.com
    • Arjen is an entrepreneur. With a team of 15 people he is now building Olisto: a reliable web service that connects smart devices, digital services and your favourite apps and have them work together, following your rules. Arjen started Olisto after he successfully exited Quby, a company that he co-founded. Quby is the developer of the Toon Smart Thermostat for Eneco. With close to half a million units sold, Toon has become Europe’s leading smart home platform. Before becoming an entrepreneur in 2004, Arjen has been climbing corporate ranks with various international telecom companies, pioneering development of internet services. Prior to that, Arjen graduated as an Electrical Engineer from Delft University of Technology. Arjen is married and father of 2 girls. He enjoys diving and skiing, and eventually, he’d like to pick up flying glider planes again.
    • Ruben Benders (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rubenbenders.jpg
    • CEO
    • Jedlix
    • https://jedlix.com
    • Ruben Benders is CEO at Jedlix, a leading player in smart charging of electric vehicles. Jedlix provides the default and award-winning software based solution for smart charging and teams-up with car OEMs like Renault, BMW and Tesla on the one hand and international utilities and oil majors, DSOs and TSOs on the other hand. The Jedlix software reduces the total cost of ownership of EVs, spurs the integration of renewables into the energy system and mitigates the risk of local net congestion. Jedlix is active in all key European markets and is a venture of Groupe Renault and Dutch utility Eneco Group. Ruben has extensive experience in the energy sector and has been focusing on innovation and building new business during his career. Renewables, power flexibility and emission reduction are cornerstones of his expertise. Previously he held leading positions in the area of deal structuring and energy trading at Essent/RWE and Eneco, furthermore he was a Managing Director at Bomin Linde LNG, a German player in small scale LNG for the shipping sector. Ruben started his career with Accenture. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Tilburg University (NL).
    • Ivan Rogani (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/ivanrogani.jpg
    • CCO
    • Wattio
    • https://wattio.com/en/
    • Ivan Rogani is the CCO of Wattio, a European leader as a smart home solutions provider. Ivan has over 20 years of international experience in the software industry, including over ten years living in Dublin (Ireland) and the last ten years living in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), cities known for being an IT Hub and pioneers when it comes to smart city initiatives, working in companies such as Oracle, Citrix, and LogMein, among others. Ivan brings the multicultural experience to Wattio, based in Spain, and has the responsibility for the internationalisation of the company, including B2B sales and marketing strategies. Fluent in 5 languages, he is graduated in Business Administration with specialisation in International Businesses and go-to-market strategies.
    • Friedrich Rojahn (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/friedrichrojahn.jpg
    • CEO
    • Solandeo
    • http://www.solandeo.com
    • Friedrich is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Solandeo. Solandeo solves the two main challenges of smart meter roll-outs: minimising the operational cost of digital metering; and making smart metering attractive to customers, with tailored digital services for key market segments. At Solandeo, Friedrich mainly looks after money: raising it (investor relations), managing it (finance), growing it (sales) and spending it again (purchasing). Under the shower and during late-night grocery shopping, Friedrich sorts out strategy and product development. Friedrich’s background is as a serial entrepreneur focussing on the digisation of the energy industry. Considering that Friedrich never studied Engineering, he has spent a surprising amount of time on new technologies, including smart metering, virtual power plants, demand response and other fun concepts such as emobility and hydrogen electrolysis. Having mistimed his first three energy startups, Friedrich is thoroughly pleased that the fourth venture is growing strongly, a somewhat novel and delightful experience. Previously, Friedrich worked as a management consultant and led the Strategy function of E.ON’s UK market unit, a FTSE-100 equivalent with 16.000 employees and €11B turnover at the time. He holds an INSEAD MBA (’04J) and a BA in Politics from the University of Durham.
    • Sergey Ogorodnov (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/sergeyogorodnov.jpg
    • CEO
    • Voltaware
    • https://www.voltaware.com
    • Sergey Ogorodnov is Co-Founder and CEO of Voltaware and responsible for business development. Sergey has 20+ years working experience with focus on telecoms and was CEO of the largest provider of fibre optics and mobile connectivity solutions to major Russian operators, but has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. His hobbies include tennis, running, and chess.
    • Dr. Christian Bogatu (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christianbogatu.jpg
    • CEO
    • Fresh Energy
    • http://www.getfresh.energy
    • Christian is a serial hardware entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO of Fresh Energy, generating unparalleled insights based on smart meter data. From 2011 until 2017 he was Co-founder and Managing Director of KIWI, building a city-scale handsfree access-as-a-service system. Prior to KIWI, he co-founded Kirsen Global Security in the Silicon Valley that became global leader in container security and exclusive provider for DB Schenker. Christian has more than 5 years of experience as Senior Consultant with McKinsey. In 2016, he was appointed as Board member of the innogy (former RWE) Digital Transformation Board. In 2009, he was appointed to the Advisory Board of the UC Berkeley BA International Diploma. Christian holds a PhD (Dr.-Ing.) in security technology and logistics and a Master (Diplom) in Energy Management and Chemical Engineering from the University of Technology in Berlin, Germany.
    • Dr. Frédéric Goettmann (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/fredericgoettmann.jpg
    • CEO
    • Extracthive
    • https://www.extracthive.com/thegroup
    • Frederic holds an engineer’s degree from the Ecole polytechnique (France) and a PhD in Material Chemistry from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris (France). After a post-doctoral stay at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam (Germany), he joined the French Atomic Energy Council (CEA). There he mainly worked on the development of decontamination processes for nuclear waste. Basing on this experience, Frederic co-founded Extracthive in 2015 in order to design and industrialise innovative processes for the recycling of industrial waste. At Extracthive, he acts as the Chief Technology Officer and is also in charge of commercial development. Frédéric co-authored 45 scientific papers and 20 patents.
    • Alwin Nagel (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alwinnagel.jpg
    • CCO
    • Solytic
    • http://solytic.com
    • Alwin Nagel is Co-Founder of SOLYTIC GmbH (founded 2017). SOLYTIC is a provider of independent monitoring and analytics software, improving underperforming PV assets and cutting operational expenses for PV system owners, asset managers & operators through smart incident detection and sophisticated analytics tools. SOLYTIC is the result of an entrepreneurial co-creation between FACTOR10, a digital company builder for corporates, and Vattenfall, a European energy utility company. The company accelerates the digitalisation of the renewable sector by providing the benefits of the digital age to solar professionals and has built a monitoring platform that already competes with the best and serves as the base camp to bring solar analytics to the market. Alwin began his career in the energy sector in 2004, with a strong passion for product development in emobility, smart cities, wind and solar. His first experience with digital data exchange and the application of data mining goes back to the early 90’s when he was a specialist on tactical data links and signals intelligence in the Royal Dutch Navy. He has a Bachelor in Economics and Communication from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
    • Simon Heyes (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/simonheyes.jpg
    • CEO
    • Kite Power Systems
    • http://www.kps.energy
    • Simon Heyes joined KPS as CEO in July 2017. He is leading the Scottish-based company developing a new airborne wind energy technology product which will utilise the stronger wind speeds at heights greater than currently reached at tip heights of conventional wind turbines and achieve an LCOE (levelised cost of energy) which does not require any support mechanism for commercial deployment. Prior to KPS, Simon has worked in the renewable energy sector for over 15 years, as SSE’s General Manager for Renewables in Great Britain and subsequently as the Construction and Delivery Director for Infinis.
    • Florian Meyer-Delpho (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/florianmeyerdelpho.jpg
    • CEO
    • Greenergetic
    • http://www.greenergetic.de
    • Florian Meyer-Delpho is CEO and Co-Founder of Greenergetic. Greenergetic has developed a revolutionary online sales and service portal for small Photovoltaic systems on rooftops. Greenergetic provides the first comprehensive solution for PV installations for end customers including DIY information, engineering and project planning, purchasing, installation and financing. Greenergetic aims to provide millions of households nationwide with clean and affordable energy. Prior to Greenergetic, Florian co-founded pvXchange, the world’s largest B2B trading platform for PV. He lead the international business development and sales department until 2011. Florian received a BA with honours in European Business Administration from Cologne Business School and the University of Hertfordshire (UK) and an MBA in Sustainability Management from Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Moreover, he is an accredited expert in alternative energies and has excellent connections into the German utility industry.
    • Dr. Erik Oldekop (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/erikoldekop.jpg
    • CEO
    • GreenStone Energy
    • http://greenstone-energy.de
    • Over the past 20 years, Erik has been working with innovative startups. He’s been involved in different roles: as researcher, part of the executive team, and sometimes even as investor and/or co-founder. He has been involved with Renewable Energy in its various forms ever since joining a Silicon Valley solar company in 2005. Erik holds a PhD in Physics from Philipps-Universität Marburg.
    • Kai Daniels (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/kaidaniels.jpg
    • Co-CEO
    • Milk the Sun
    • https://www.milkthesun.com/en
    • Kai is co-MD at Milk the Sun, a worldwide leading online platform for selling and buying photovoltaic systems. Having joined the founding team in 2016, Kai supports the development and growth of new business to establish Milk the Sun as the forefront digital solution for owners and operators of photovoltaic systems. Kai has a passion for building new digital businesses, solving real-life problems through combining smart product solutions with efficient processes. Prior to working for Milk the Sun, Kai co-founded mobilejobs.com, a mobile-first recruiting solution in Berlin, and supported Westwing Home & Living in its international expansion. He began his career as a strategy consultant, moving on to become project leader with Stern Stewart & Co. Holding a degree in Business Administration from the University of Mannheim and the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Kai thrives on building new experiences, which can range from Leadership Programs at Harvard Business School, to getting involved in mentoring programs to support promising startups.
    • Marcus Kanewoff (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/marcuskanewoff.jpg
    • CEO
    • Free Energy
    • http://www.free-energy.com/en
    • Free Energy has developed HYSS – Hybrid Solar System, a unique ground source heat pump that in combination with solar thermal collectors doubles the industry’s current performance (SCOP). That means for each kWh electricity used HYSS gives 5-7 times back in the form of heating and hot water to the building. Marcus Kanewoff is educated as engineer within power supply with additional qualifications within HVAC. He also holds a Marketing Economics Diploma (DIHM). He has long experience from the Nordic HVAC market as CEO of Roth Nordic Group, where during his 10 years he conducted a turnaround, tripled sales and doubled the company’s market share as well as reaching the international group’s long-term economic goals.
    • Dr. Peter Armstrong (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/peterarmstrong.jpg
    • CEO
    • Mixergy
    • http://www.mixergy.co.uk
    • Pete Armstrong spun out Mixergy from Oxford University whilst he was finishing his PhD which examined the role of demand response within energy systems. Pete has extensive experience developing innovative technology. As leader of Oxford University’s Shell Eco car team, Pete secured the 2013 technical innovation award for his phase controlled clutch design and reconfigurable PV array scheme. Pete also designed a solar powered navigation system comprising dozens of units that operate all year round in the North Sea. Pete setup Mixergy to improve domestic hot water tanks. By endowing the tank with sensors and more sophisticated controls, Mixergy have developed a scalable demand response proposition which will allow more renewable energy to be absorbed whilst reducing energy consumption. Outside of work, Pete likes to indulge a passion for electronic music by playing synthesizer in an electronic rock band based in Oxford.
    • Antoine Hubert (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/antoinehubert.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ÿnsect
    • http://www.ynsect.com/en/
    • Antoine Hubert is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of ŸNSECT and also President & Co-Founder of the International Platform of Insects for Food & Food (IPIFF). Antoine Hubert was previously senior scientist at TOTAL and ALTRAN where he managed R&D programs on Sustainable Development applied on bioresources, soil remediation, waste-to-energy and recycled resources. He also launched in 2007 and led the non-profit organization WORGAMIC, dealing with food sustainability, promoting urban agriculture and organic waste recycling within cities, and in 2011 the company ORGANEO operating on biowaste management. He is also Board Member of Proteines France cluster and AgroCampus West school in France. He has a background in agronomy and life sciences from AgroCampus Rennes and AgroParisTech Engineering schools.
    • Christoph Berger (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christophberger.jpg
    • CEO
    • Vilisto
    • http://www.vilisto.de
    • After his studies at Technical University Hamburg and UC Berkeley, Christoph Berger founded vilisto together with his two co-founders. Employees often use energy inefficiently as the cost is borne by the company creating a classic “free-rider problem”. This issue creates a huge potential for energy and cost savings as offices are being continuously heated even when they are not being used up to 80% of the time. Christoph tackles this problem with his company vilisto and offers an energy saving solution for radiator heated office buildings enabling savings of up to 40% off heating costs. The AI-based proprietary technology uses self-learning algorithms and integrated presence detection to turn off heating when users are not detected and reduces energy use by anticipating user behavior based on past room occupancy. vilisto additionally utilizes collected data to offer services providing added value for building management.
    • Gerhard Weiß (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/gerhardweiss.jpg
    • CEO
    • Betterspace
    • https://betterspace360.com/de/
    • Gerhard Weiss is one of the first-minute founders of Betterspace GmbH together with Dr. Siwanand Misara and Benjamin Köhler. Gerhard gathered valuable experiences in the development and coordination of national and international energy management projects in non-residential buildings at Fraunhofer IWES. This was eventually the trigger for the idea to develop the energy management solutions for hotel industries where there is a clear conflict of interest between the hotel and its guests. Meanwhile, Betterspace offers diverse digital applications throughout the hotel industry with the aims of decreasing energy and operating costs, increasing revenue of hoteliers and comfort of hotel guest, and providing added value for society as a whole.
    • Thomas Bräck (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomasbrack.jpg
    • Business Development Director
    • Meva Energy
    • http://mevaenergy.com
    • Thomas Bräck is an experienced innovation manager and has for several years been coaching small and medium sized companies with development in areas such as business, innovation, technology, financing and internationalization. He has work experience ranging from startups to large corporations and research institutes. Thomas holds a MSc of Industrial Engineering and Management from Chalmers with a master from Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship.
    • Dr. Henk Ouwerkerk (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/henkouwerkerk.jpg
    • CEO
    • Heat Power
    • http://heatpower.nl
    • Dr. Henk Ouwerkerk, Founder and CEO of Heat Power BV, is both a dedicated entrepreneur as well as a steam and gas turbine expert. He has over 10 years of experience in the development and prototyping of industrial energy systems. After doing his Master in Mechanical Engineering he obtained his PhD degree on the development of the Rankine Compression Gas turbine (RCG) at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2009. After his PhD he was an assistant professor in Applied Thermodynamics at Eindhoven University of Technology for several years, but since 2015 he is fully devoted to entrepreneurship as the CEO and major shareholder of Heat Power.
    • Robert Händel (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/roberthaendel.jpg
    • CEO
    • Opes Solutions
    • http://www.opes-solutions.com
    • Robert Händel is a solar industry veteran with 20 years of experience in the photovoltaic industry throughout the value chain. He is the Founder & CEO of Opes Solutions, the leading supplier of solar modules for off-grid power supply. Previously, he held various positions as CCO Innotech Solar, Norway/China, President Solarworld Americas and Sales Director REC Solar Europe to name a few. Robert holds a Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering from University Dalarna/Sweden and is Board member of Soleg AG, a solar system integrator in Germany.
    • Juha Lauritsalo (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/juhalauritsalo.jpg
    • CEO
    • Qualvista
    • http://www.qualvista.com
    • Juha Lauritsalo is CEO of Qualvista. He is a seasoned professional in launching new technology products and services to international markets. After completing his MSc degree in Industrial Engineering and Management he worked for technology companies such as Nokia, Kone, ICL, Fujitsu, Compaq and HP, where his tasks comprised new product launches, customer relationship management, sales, and business unit management. Most recently, before taking the helm at Qualvista, Juha ran a business unit serving the energy sector at Nordic IT services leader Tieto. As a result, Juha has more than 10 years of experience from the energy market. In addition to his native country Finland, Juha has worked in the USA, Canada, UK and Belgium.
    • Dr. Mich Hein (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/michhein.jpg
    • CEO
    • Electrochaea
    • http://www.electrochaea.com
    • Mich Hein is the managing director of Electrochaea GmbH in Munich, Germany. He is also a founding member and managing partner of Focus First, a founding investor of Electrochaea and five other Companies in the energy, agriculture and water sectors. Mich brings more than 30 years of executive management experience in the biotechnology and life science arena. As an inventor, entrepreneur and executive, Mich brings broad experience to the partnership in technology development, financing and market alignment. Mich founded two companies, Epicyte Pharmaceutical (La Jolla, 1996-2002) and Heliose (Chicago 2007-2008), and served as CEO of Chromatin, Inc (Chicago 2002-2005) and Chief of staff of the Illinois Medical District (2008-2009) before founding Focus First with Vicki Gonzalez and Ted Briscoe in 2010. After starting his professional career as a research chemist with Monsanto and then PPG Industries in the early 80’s, he accepted an academic faculty appointment at The Scripps Research Institute (1989-1996). Mich’s academic research, funded by industry, NIH and DARPA, focused on mucosal immunology and plant based proteins for immune protection. At Scripps, Mich sponsored the first field trial of transgenic alfalfa in the US, and with 17 patents and 25 publications under his belt, he made the leap from academia to entrepreneur as the founder of Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc. He has raised more than $40 million in seed and venture funding, $20M in nondilutive grant support and $10M in sponsored R&D for his companies. Mich’s business development experience includes negotiated partnerships and licensing agreements with channel to market partners in the pharmaceutical, animal health, energy and agriculture markets, as well as numerous academic institutions and the NIH. Mich has assisted entrepreneurs in intellectual property development, regulatory strategy, business development and fund raising at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Technology Incubator, where he managed the incubator and the Chicago Technology Park, and as Executive in Residence at the University of Chicago’s Office of Technology and Intellectual Property. Mich currently serves on the Board and as an advisor of several early stage biotechnology companies in the Focus First Portfolio and is a member of the Executive Advisory Board for the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. Mich Hein holds a BS degree from the Honors Tutorial College of Ohio University, and both MS and PhD degrees in Plant Physiology from the University of Minnesota.
    • Alexander van Os (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alexandervanos.jpg
    • Co-founder
    • Venture IQ
    • https://ventureiq.nl
    • Alexander is one of the founders of Venture IQ, a data driven technology scouting firm based in Amsterdam. Venture IQ delivers proactive technology scouting services and dealflow management software to corporate clients and VCs. Before starting Venture IQ, Alexander was active as a VC and PE investor, completing more than 40 investments throughout Europe for AlpInvest Partners and most recently Yellow&Blue, the cleantech fund backed by NUON/Vattenfall.
    • David Balensiefen (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/davidbalensiefen.jpg
    • CEO
    • GridX
    • https://gridx.de
    • David ist the Co-founder and CEO of gridX, a digital energy supplier that connects energy producers and consumers on one platform. With its technology gridX is able to provide a manufacturer independent monitoring solution and a holistic energy management system for all relevant energy devices. Before founding gridX he worked for corporates like RWE and Trianel with focus on energy trading and origination. He holds a Masters Degree in Engineering from RWTH Aachen and studied at TU Delft and Aalto University with a minor in resource engineering.
    • Dr. Ana Trbovich (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/anatrbovich.jpg
    • COO
    • Grid Singularity
    • http://gridsingularity.com
    • Dr. Ana Trbovich is Grid Singularity co-founder and COO, and Energy Web Foundation Council Member. She continues to be engaged as Professor of Entrepreneurship at FEFA, Belgrade, and as activist for good governance, innovation and diversity, including through her role as Governing Board Member of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT). Prior to this position, she consulted on public administration reform and competitiveness policy and led economic development projects for international organisations such as the EU, the USAID and the Worldbank. She has been deeply involved in Serbia’s economic reforms and the EU accession process both as high government official and senior advisor. She holds a PhD and MALD from the Fletcher School (including a semester at ScPo Paris) and MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
    • Dr. Gavin Bell (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/gavinbell.jpg
    • CEO
    • Optimeering
    • https://www.optimeering.com
    • Gavin Bell is co-founder and CEO at Optimeering, a company simply making great, operational AI for tomorrow’s sustainable, interactive power system. Gavin has over 20 years of experience building startups and working in the power industry internationally. He has worked with and for many of the major utilities and renewables companies in Europe and the Nordics, was Head of Operative Analysis at Statkraft, and was CEO of Ably AS, a Nordic power sector startup, to successful exit in 2010. Gavin’s background is in mathematical modelling, machine learning and operations research, with a PhD from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
    • Szilard Toth (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/szilardtoth.jpg
    • CTO
    • epilot
    • https://epilot.cloud/en/main_en/
    • Szilard Toth is the CTO of epilot, a revolutionary sales tool for energy providers founded in 2017. epilot simplifies launching highly complex energy products and services in a rapidly changing space with its easy-to-use and flexible SaaS platform. Szilard is responsible for the overall product direction, technology and engineering culture at epilot and boasts years of international experience at highly successful companies. Prior to epilot he was a product manager at the leading collaboration software provider Atlassian and lead products for millions of end users. Before that he was heading the product development team at Solactive AG and launched products that gathered more than 10 billion $ in assets under management in the ETF space. Szilard holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
    • Vincent Tuk (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/vincenttuk.jpg
    • CEO
    • Usio
    • https://usio.io
    • Vincent started his career in 1998 at Shell and subsequently worked from 2003-2006 at Mckinsey & company and has been entrepreneur since 2007, founder in 2008 of Igogreen online consumer CO2 business. Founder in 2011 of Cleanreturns, an energy/clean technology management consultancy firm with revenues of USD 13m in 4 years with clients including Shell, Hitachi, Smartest Energy, Singapore power, ConEdison and Sonnen, Swisscom Energy Solutions (Tiko). Since 2017 Vincent is the founder of USIO – a new disruptive UK energy provider for UK households. USIO will start serving its first customers in May 2017 and will offer new energy propositions enabled by UK Half Hourly settlement and USIO’s advanced machine learning based forecasting technology. Vincent holds an INSEAD MBA.
    • Andrew Mack (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/andrewmack.jpg
    • Founder
    • 4hundred
    • https://4hundred.com
    • Andrew is the founder and CEO of 4hundred, a German energy retail startup taking the best of fintech and applying it to the energy market. 4hundred has developed an entirely new retail platform based on microservices which it launched at the end of 2017. Prior to founding 4hundred Andrew was Strategy Director at OVO Energy; OVO grew to become the UK’s second largest independent supplier, shaking up the retail market and paving the way for a wave of new entrants.
    • Stephen McNulty (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/stephenmcnulty.jpg
    • CEO
    • AmbiSense
    • http://ambisense.net
    • Stephen is co-founder and CEO of AmbiSense, a technology company utilising IoT, data science and machine learning to challenge incumbent business models and solve complex environmental problems. Prior to setting up AmbiSense in 2014 he was a senior commercial manager in the environmental monitoring sector, serving environmental consultants and water utility customers across the UK and Ireland. He holds an MBA and BEng from Dublin City University and and an MEng from the Open University. He has won numerous startup and industry awards across Europe for AmbiSense since 2014 including being named as one of Europe’s Top 5 cleantech startups in 2015.
    • Jakob Bitner (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/jakobbittner.jpg
    • CEO
    • VoltStorage
    • http://voltstorage.com
    • Jakob Bitner is Co-Founder and CEO of VoltStorage. A company focused on building safe, long-lasting and affordable storage solutions for private households with solar panels. He has been working for corporates like BMW and Osram as well as for Startups before he co-founded VoltStorage. In 2016 he and his team were part of HAX, the world’s biggest Hardware Accelerator located in Shenzhen, China. The team is currently setting up operations of VoltStorage in Munich. Jakob holds a Masters Degree from the Technical University of Munich in Technology Management with a Minor in Chemistry.
    • Dr. Rolf Luchsinger (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rolfluchsinger.jpg
    • CEO
    • TwingTec
    • http://twingtec.ch
    • Rolf Luchsinger has a long track record both in industry and academia. Trained as a Physicist at ETH Zurich followed up by a PhD in Computational Physics, he continued his academic career in Canada before he joined the research lab of ABB working on new materials and technologies for power electronics. He then moved to the startup Prospective Concepts, where he was responsible to build up the R&D for the new light-weight structure Tensairity. Rolf has been the Founding Director of the Center for Synergetic Structures at Empa, the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Material Science and Technology. As Co-Founder and CEO of TwingTec he brings in his broad experience both in technology development and management.
    • Andres Anijalg (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/andresanijalg.jpg
    • Chief Business Development Officer
    • Roofit Solar Energy
    • https://roofit.solar
    • Andres Anijalg is the Chief Business Development Officer and co-founder of Roofit Solar Energy. He has been active in the power industry since 2007 as the head of international development projects at the Estonian national energy company Enefit. Enefit is the biggest energy producer and also one of the biggest producers of renewable energy in Baltic states. His key responsibility was the 570MW greenfield mine mouth oil shale fired power plant development in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where he acted as the Project Director and the CEO of the project company since day one. The 2,1 billion USD project reached its Financial Close in 2017 and is currently under construction together with the Malaysian and Chinese partners. Andres has been also working for almost 10 years at the two major international banks in Estonia. He holds his MBA degree from the University of Tartu and has been studying as an exchange student at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
    • Tobias Ziereis (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/tobiasziereis.jpg
    • Business Development Manager Biogas
    • LXP Group
    • http://lxp-group.com
    • Tobias Ziereis is the Business Development Manager Biogas of the LXP Group whose core technology is based on the pre-treatment of second generation biomass to be then utilized in consumer markets and power generation industries. Working more than eleven years in the waste recycling and power generation business, Tobias has successfully established German startup technology in international markets like JPN, ITA, UK, MEX and USA. Before joining the LXP Group he was previously working for BEKON GmbH out of Oxnard (CA), USA as a local Executive after his role as Head of Sales of a subsidiary of the Viessmann Group. During his entire career he has been involved in several due dilligence processes on both sides of the table and was one of the key players in a startup that has been merged by the Viessmann Group in 2007. Living on a farm outside Munich, Tobias holds an economics degree from the University of Applied Sciences in Weihenstephan, Freising and is very much into playing table tennis.