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    ECO12 Düsseldorf Speakers

     

    Our 4th conference Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 took place on 14-15 November 2012 at the Langen Foundation and featured 43 speakers including 26 startups which you can see below. Please scroll down to learn more about our speaker lineup. Click “expand” to read the speaker profile, click “collapse” to close it. Follow the company link to visit the external homepage.

     

    ECO12 Duesseldorf Langen Foundation

     

    • Dr. Alois Flatz (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/aloisflatz.jpg
    • Partner
    • Zouk Capital
    • http://www.zouk.com
    • Alois Flatz has over 20 years of experience in investment management focused on sustainability themes. He is a Partner at Zouk Capital, a leading private equity investor with more than €400 million under management. Zouk operates a dual-track strategy focused on cleantech growth capital and renewable energy infrastructure. Alois coordinated the fundraising of Cleantech Europe II, which at €230 million is the largest cleantech growth capital fund in Europe. He manages the full growth capital investment cycle: originating, developing and exiting successful companies such as SiC Processing, which returned to one of the best cleantech exits after the financial crisis. Before joining Zouk, Alois was a Partner and Head of Research at SAM Sustainable Asset Management in Zurich, where he co-founded the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Alois was also Managing Partner of BTS Investment Advisors, a private equity advisor in India with over $3 billion AUM, and an advisor to the Austrian Ministry of the Environment. Alois is a published author and speaker on sustainable and cleantech investing. He has a PhD in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, an MBA from Vienna University of Economics and studied International Management at HEC.
    • Dr. Tarja Teppo (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/tarjateppo.jpg
    • Partner
    • Cleantech Invest
    • http://www.cleantechinvest.com
    • Tarja (MSc in Engineering, PhD in Tech) is the co-founder of Cleantech Invest that has provided Cleantech investment advisory for large institutional clients in the Nordic area since 2005. Cleantech Invest (CTI) has been mandated as the cleantech accelerator by the government of Finland. CTI manages Clean Future Fund I (CFF I) that has made nine investments into early stage cleantech ventures. Tarja has also been involved in organizing the Nordic cleantech venture day since its inception seven years ago. She has been following the development of the cleantech investment market since its early stages, through her research at the Helsinki University of Technology, starting in 2002. She defended her thesis on “Venture Capital Investment in Sustainable Energy Technologies” in 2006. Prior to 2002, she worked for Nokia Ventures Organization in the United States and headed R&D groups at Nokia Corporation.
    • Fabienne Herlaut (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/fabienneherlaut.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • Ecomobilité Ventures
    • http://www.ecomobilite-ventures.com/
    • Fabienne Herlaut graduated from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris and holds a Master degree from Harvard Business School. After graduation, she joins Bain and Co. in the Boston and Paris offices. From 1990 until 2001, she joins Harwanne, a diversified holding company (mining, packaging, electronics), listed in Paris and Geneva, as General Manager. She is in charge of managing the portfolio of participations (M&A) and supervising the operational performance of Harwanne subsidiaries to drive them toward leadership positions. In 2001, she joins Pechiney as Head of Corporate Strategy and following Alcan takeover, co-leads the integration between Alcan and Pechiney. In 2005, she joins ArcelorMittal, Flat Carbon Steel division, in charge of business development and partnerships. In 2007, she joins SNCF as head of Corporate Strategy and Sustainable Development, member of the Executive Committee. In 2008, she launches Ecomobilité Partenaires, SNCF Corporate Venture fund dedicated to sustainable development with €15M equity and investments in six companies. In November 2011, Fabienne Herlaut leaves SNCF to create Eclaircile Gestion, in charge of managing Ecomobilité Ventures, the newly created €25M multi corporate (SNCF, Orange, Total) venture fund, dedicated to sustainable mobility. Ecomobilité Ventures invests in mobility startups in Europe, with tickets ranging from €1M to €4M. She continues to manage Ecomobilité Partenaires, and made three investments.
    • Maximilian Erb (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/maximilianerb.jpg
    • Investment Manager
    • NRW Bank
    • http://www.nrwbank.com/en/index.html
    • Maximilian joined NRW Bank Equity Investments in 2009 as Investment Manager with a focus on the growing cleantech industry. Within his position, he is responsible for deal sourcing, technology and market screening, transaction structuring, portfolio management and business development. During his work, he was responsible for establishing investment activities in the cleantech sector for NRW Bank Venture Fund and managed to build up a strong cleantech portfolio, including leading European companies in the Industrial Biotech and Smart Grid space. Prior to NRW Bank, Maximilian worked for several technology companies, including eFront, a software company in the field of business applications for the Private Equity industry, and High-Tech Gründerfonds, Europe’s largest seed stage Venture Capital investor. Maximilian gained a Master´s degree in Economics from the University of Cologne, Germany, and spent part of his studies with a focus on environmental economics in San Diego, USA.
    • Dr. Juergen Finke (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/juergenfinke.jpg
    • Investment Manager
    • Evonik Corporate Venturing
    • http://venturing.evonik.com
    • Juergen Finke is Investment Manager of Evonik Corporate Venturing. Juergen has held senior positions in the Evonik Group since 1984 and has an international expertise in marketing, finance, corporate development and research & development. He held board seat positions in several startup companies and has been Managing Director of Suncoat GmbH, a German startup company from 2006 to 2010. He studied chemistry and earned a doctorate from at the University of Munich, Germany.
    • Andreas Aepfelbacher (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/andreasaepfelbacher.jpg
    • Deputy Head
    • Fraunhofer Venture
    • http://www.fraunhoferventure.de/en.html
    • Andreas Aepfelbacher is deputy head of Fraunhofer Venture and responsible for business administration. He joined Fraunhofer Venture in February 2002; before, he gained professional experience in Controlling of Messe München GmbH and as a project developer and investment controller for a division of RWE Umwelt AG. Andreas Aepfelbacher completed his degrees in forestry/environmental engineering and business administration at LMU and TU in Munich as well as at Fern Universität Hagen. In 2007, he became a CFA Institute charterholder.
    • Dr. Peter van Gelderen (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/petervangelderen.jpg
    • Partner
    • Icos Capital
    • http://www.icoscapital.com
    • Peter van Gelderen is one of the founding Managing Partners at Icos Capital, a leading European cleantech investor with offices in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Munich. He is responsible for the overall investment strategy of Icos Capital and a board member in five Icos portfolio companies. Icos Capital developed a unique collaborative corporate venturing model with cornerstone investors that are actively involved in energy, water and bio-based chemicals markets. Before co-founding Icos Capital, Peter worked as a strategy consultant at Deloitte, focusing on energy, recycling, water and technology markets. He advised globally active corporations on expansion strategy, mergers and acquisitions and joint-venture deals. In this capacity, he contributed substantially to the revision of the business strategy of several of these companies in response to new market developments such as technology innovation and renewable energy. He also advised the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs on innovation policy. Peter started his career in the Philips Research Laboratories, where he was involved in nanotechnology and new materials research and development. He received a PhD in theoretical physics from Nijmegen University and is a frequent speaker on cleantech investing, innovative technology developments and sustainability.
    • Dr. Urban Keussen (Utility)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/urbankeussen.jpg
    • SVP, Technology & Innovation
    • E.ON
    • http://www.eon.com
    • Dr. Urban Keussen studied physics and gained his Diploma and PhD in Physics in 1993. After several roles within the E.On group he became Member of the Executive Board of E.ON Netz – the power transmission operator in 2003. New technologies and related innovations play an increasingly important role for strengthening the future competitive position of the E.ON group. Thus E.ON has set up the new Technology & Innovation function at group headquarter to lead and be responsible for all technology and innovation activities within the E.ON group. In 2010 Urban Keussen took over this responsibility as Senior Vice President Technology & Innovation.
    • Bernard Scherrer (Utility)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/bernardscherrer.jpg
    • Head of Open Innovation
    • EDF
    • http://www.edf.com/
    • Bernard has an engineering background. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. His career led him through civil work engineering, nuclear power plant operations, corporate strategy, and eventually to R&D and innovation. Bernard and his team are in charge of sourcing entrepreneurial innovation, both from outside and within EDF, and fostering its growth and integration within the company. His team’s goals also include promoting entrepreneurial culture and innovative methods within EDF R&D. Open Innovation team members are located in Paris, San Francisco and Beijing.
    • Paul Cousens (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/paulcousens.jpg
    • Global Cleantech Business Development Manager
    • Autodesk
    • http://www.autodesk.co.uk/cleantech
    • As the Global Business Development Manager for the Cleantech industry at Autodesk, Paul Cousens is responsible for the continued satisfaction and growth of the company’s Cleantech customers. By partnering with Cleantech companies and providing them with Autodesk’s leading design, visualization and simulation tools, Paul plans to accelerate the rate at which Cleantech companies bring their products to market and transform the world around us. Paul has over 15 years of experience in the 3D design and animation industries, including roles at Silicon Graphics and Alias Systems Corporation (now a part of Autodesk). This experience allows him to better address the needs of Cleantech companies, which require accurate visualization and animation for everything from creating initial prototypes to securing venture capital funding. An accomplished speaker, Paul has presented at numerous 3D graphics and Cleantech events worldwide.
    • Rolf Adam (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rolfadam.jpg
    • Director Business Development Energy & Smart Grid EMEAR
    • Cisco
    • http://www.cisco.com/
    • Rolf Adam is a Director with Cisco. He is responsible for the EMEAR Business Development with the Energy industry comprising Oil & Gas and Utilities & Smart Grid. In addition to his responsibilities at Cisco, he is an industry advisor to WHEB Partners (Cleantech fund), sits on the Advisory Board of Entelios AG (Demand Response startup) and emobility2go (EV eCloud startup), and is an expert to the European Commission on Smart Grid. Prior to joining Cisco he was a Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton where he had built and managed the European Smart Grid Practice and an Associate at A.T. Kearney. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Eichstaett and a MBA from Webster University.
    • Dr. Joerg Fabri (Consulting)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/joergfabri.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • Allocate
    • http://www.allocate.de
    • 4 years Shell, Manager “Marketing Technology Department”
      5 years VEBA AG (E.ON AG), Head of “Corporate Strategy”
      5 years RWE AG, Head of “Strategic Planning” and Vice President “Multi Utility Operations”
      4 years Arthur D. Little, Partner
      6 years Droege & Comp., Managing Director
      Since 2011, allocate International, Managing Partner and London & Oxford Capital Markets since 6 years (in parallel)
      Education: PhD, RWTH Aachen, Germany, and Diploma in Chemistry, RWTH Aachen, Germany
    • Thomas Grigoleit (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomasgrigoleit.jpg
    • Director Renewable Energies & Resources
    • Germany Trade & Invest
    • http://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Navigation/EN/Invest/Industries/energy-environmental-technologies.html?mc=link.ecosummit-net.speakers.content.rer
    • Thomas Grigoleit is Director of Renewable Energies & Resources at Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), the foreign trade and inward investment agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. In this capacity, Berlin-based Grigoleit advises and assists companies seeking to enter the German market and to realize investment projects in Germany. Prior to GTAI, Grigoleit was Business Development Manager at the PV system integrator Suntechnics (part of the Conergy group), with a special focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Thomas Grigoleit has also worked on various projects with the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei in Taiwan and with several consulting companies in Canada and China. Before he began his professional career, Grigoleit studied East Asian Economics, Chinese and International Marketing in Bonn and Bochum (Germany) as well as Chengdu (China).
    • Moritz Lehmkuhl (Consulting)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/moritzlehmkuhl.jpg
    • Managing Director
    • ClimatePartner
    • http://www.climatepartner.com/
    • Moritz Lehmkuhl has 8 years of experience in the field of sustainability and climate protection. He has founded the companies Sustainable Partner and ClimatePartner. ClimatePartner is a business solution provider for climate protection that offers a large range of services, including carbon footprinting, climate protection strategy development and carbon offsetting solutions. Moritz Lehmkuhl has a degree in Business Administration and participated in the Post Graduate Program at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Indian School of Business. In 2010, he was honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.
    • Carsten Schneider (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/carstenschneider.jpg
    • Partner
    • Osborne Clarke
    • http://www.osborneclarke.com/
    • Carsten Schneider is a partner with Osborne Clarke. Carsten heads OC`s Energy and Cleantech industry sector group, working closely together with OC`s offices in other jurisdictions such as the UK, Italy and Spain. Carsten advises cleantech companies and investors on all stages of corporate, corporate finance and M&A work – from seed stage to exit. One of the recent examples of his work include the investment rounds in smart metering and smart home software company GreenPocket.
    • Felix Jansen (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/felixjansen.jpg
    • Communication Manager
    • CODE_n
    • http://www.code-n.org/about
    • Felix Jansen coordinates the international PR and communication activities at the GFT Technologies AG, an international IT service provider headquartered in Stuttgart with a total of 22 locations in seven countries. He is also responsible for the external communication of the global innovation initiative CODE_n that has been initiated by GFT in 2011. Before moving to GFT, Jansen was PR and communications manager of the Cluster of Excellence SimTech at the University of Stuttgart and project manager for technology marketing at the MFG Baden-Württemberg.
    • Sebastian Matthes (Press)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/sebastianmatthes.jpg
    • Section Editor
    • WirtschaftsWoche
    • http://www.wiwo.de/
    • When Sebastian Matthes travels into the countryside, his mind often turns to work, at the very lastest at the sight of a wind turbine. For alongside the newest trends in technology, Green Technology remains a focus for the 6 members of the Science and Technology department at WirtschaftsWoche, which the political and economic scientist has been running since 2007. And whatever the latest Internet hype, be it in Bristol or Bangalore, he is sure to explain it to his readers on wiwo.de or via Twitter. The passionate violinst and cyclist completed 6 months of research in India during his studies and shortly thereafter enrolled in the Georg-von-Holtzbrinck School for Business Journalism. His training has included time spent at Handelsblatt and Spiegel as well as the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
    • Steve Lewis (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/stevelewis.jpg
    • CEO
    • Living PlanIT
    • http://www.living-planit.com/
    • Steve Lewis is the CEO and Co-Founder of Living PlanIT and has broad experience from numerous executive positions in multinational companies like Microsoft and IBM. With Microsoft Corporation until May of 2004, Steve served as General Manager of Market Development and Co-Chair of the Microsoft Business Development Forum. Steve was primarily responsible for understanding key market trends and developments to identify their strategic implications for Microsoft and the industry. He also led the company’s strategic business development opportunities and commercial engagements leveraging Microsoft’s portfolio of technology, research & development, services, marketing, distribution, partner ecosystem and investment capital. Before joining Microsoft, Steve spent a couple of years raising capital for technology investments, mergers and acquisitions and participated on the boards of numerous early through late stage companies. Prior to this he served as General Manager of the Lotus Messaging and Collaboration division of IBM Corporation, having previously held key executive positions in areas of business development, product strategy, engineering and sales. Steve is a frequently requested keynote speaker at industry events, respected as a thought leader by the analyst and press community, and is actively involved in promoting entrepreneurship in further education, recently leading lectures at the Harvard Business School, the Kennedy School, the Graduate School of Design and chairing the European Business Plan of the Year Award 2010 held at Cranfield University. He recently received the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Award 2012 in Dalian, China. Additionally in 2012 the UK Department of Trade & Investment presented Living PlanIT with the Business Internationalization Award at the UK embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.
    • Tom Schulz (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/tomschulz.jpg
    • COO
    • Entelios
    • http://www.entelios.com/
    • Tom Schulz is a serial entrepreneur and investor. Tom is co-founder and COO of Entelios, Germany’s first nationwide Demand Response Aggregator. Tom is a co-founder of the San Francisco–based Cleantech Circle, a group of serial entrepreneurs and investors with a passion for Cleantech. He worked on computer languages at Digital Equipment Corporation’s Western Research Lab in Palo Alto and artificial intelligence and multimedia projects at Apple Computer in Germany. Later, Tom was a strategic management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. In 1995, Tom co-founded the first publicly traded, nationwide Internet service provider in Germany, Cybernet AG, where he served on the executive management board. After going public with Cybernet, he went on to become an angel investor with the Munich Business Angel Network. Later he was a member of The Angels’ Forum, an investor group in Palo Alto that also manages the Halo Funds. Tom currently serves on the advisory board of Earlybird Venture Capital in Munich. Tom earned an MBA from Stanford University and studied Computer Science at the ETH Zurich and KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology).
    • Yüksel Sirmasac (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/yuekselsirmasac.jpg
    • CEO
    • Rockethome
    • http://www.rockethome.de
    • 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.
    • Dr. Joerg Riesmeier (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/joergriesmeier.jpg
    • CEO
    • Direvo
    • http://www.direvo.com
    • Dr. Riesmeier joined Direvo in 2010 from the venture capital firm LSP (Boston), where he had been General Partner since 2006. He launched and directed the US office of this $1 billion global venture capital firm, where he was responsible for developing and managing a $100 million investment portfolio with a focus on clean technologies, agriculture, platform technologies, food and nutrition, and health. Prior to his position at LSP, Dr. Riesmeier was Head of Business Development at Burrill & Co. (San Francisco), where he held responsibility for both the AgBio and Nutraceutical funds, managing the Bayer account at Burrill and $100 million in venture capital. Previously, Dr. Riesmeier was President & CEO at PlantTec Biotechnologie in Potsdam, Germany (acquired by Bayer CropScience), an €8 million biotech startup that he created and supervised, maintaining leadership through acquisition by Bayer CropScience in 2000 and assuming strategic business development and R&D roles within Bayer. He received his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Free University of Berlin, Germany.
    • Markus Becker (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/markusbecker.jpg
    • CEO
    • EcoIntense
    • http://www.ecointense.de/en/home.html
    • Markus Becker is Managing Director of EcoIntense GmbH and represents the company as CEO. EcoIntense is the leading specialist in software solutions for health, safety and environmental management. The company and its core product EcoWebDesk already received several prestigious awards. Recently the software obtained the certificate “Industry-Price Best-of 2012” honoring its outstanding economic benefits. Markus Becker founded the company together with Hardy Menzel and Sebastian Mönnich in 2007 as a spin-off of an annual research project. After his studies of environmental informatics he gained comprehensive experience in environmental management projects at Daimler AG in South Africa and Berliner Wasserbetriebe. He obtained his academic degree Master of Science at the University of Applied Sciences Berlin (HTW) and is today responsible for the marketing, sales and human resources department of EcoIntense.
    • Martin Mohr (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/martinmohr.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ecoduna
    • http://www.ecoduna.com
    • Martin Mohr qualified as architectural designer and light designer and worked in development and process design for a number of years. He teaches process design and project management at the Donau University Krems since 2000 and taught process design at the Business School St.Gallen from 2007 to 2009. Mohr was a founding Director of ecoduna OG in 2006, specializing on alternative fuels and sustainability solutions and is founding Director of ecoduna productions GmbH in 2008, a company formed to market and further develop the inventions of Martin Mohr and his associate Franz Emminger in the field of photo-bioreactors. Since 2010, Mohr serves as CEO in the ecoduna productions GmbH deriving from ecoduna OG by raising equity to complement a substantial fund from the EU. Mohr has a keen interest in energy efficiency and sustainability. The current project Hanging Gardens has been granted the Genius Award 2008 by the Chamber of Commerce in Austria.
    • Prof. Dr. Alain Straboni (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alainstraboni.jpg
    • CEO
    • S’Tile
    • http://www.silicontile.com
    • Alain Straboni founded S’Tile in 2007 and currently is involved in R&D efforts and organizing partnerships with the best European institutional and industrial partners. He has more than 25 years of experience in the industrial microelectronics research and photovoltaics. Prior to found S’Tile, he was Professor of Material Physics at Poitiers University where he first initiated sintering experiments for the production of silicon wafers. He authored more than 80 papers, applied for 25 patents. He received its Engineer Diploma from Supelec France and his PhD degree in Material Physics from Pierre et Marie Curie University.
    • Oliver Lünstedt (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/oliverluenstedt.jpg
    • CEO
    • Carzapp
    • http://www.carzapp.net/english
    • Oliver Lünstedt is CEO and co-founder of Carzapp. Carzapp is a P2P car sharing operator that connects car owners to people renting cars. It enables people to automatically and spontaneously make their cars available to rent via their smartphones. An inexpensive and theft-proof hardware solution, the ZappKit, allows car owners to do this without physically handing over keys. Oliver is responsible for strategy and finance at Carzapp. Prior to Carzapp he worked for Roland Berger in the area of Energy & Chemicals and for the German cleantech startup SunCoal Industries in the strategic management where he gained a broad insight in the different aspects of managing startups. He studied industrial engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with focus on finance, entrepreneurship and renewable energies.
    • Knut Hechtfischer (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/knuthechtfischer.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ubitricity
    • http://www.ubitricity.com
    • Knut Hechtfischer is one of ubitricity’s founders and managing directors. Born in 1971, Knut completed a bank traineeship and holds university degrees in both law and business administration (MBA equivalent). He then joined leading international law firms in London, Frankfurt and Berlin, advising national and international clients in Regulatory, Acquisition Finance and Renewable Energy related projects. Working as an attorney during the day, Knut’s fascination with the potential of the renewable energy sector soon had him reading up on generation and storage opportunities by night. He envisaged ubitricity’s idea as well as the technical and commercial concepts in 2007 and founded the company with his friend and colleague Frank Pawlitschek in 2008. At ubitricity, Knut directs and instructs the implementation of the ubitricity concept and develops future co-operations and market models connected to his company’s concept. Knut also has a strong technical background and envisioned important parts of ubitricity’s mobile metering system.
    • Dr. Klaus Dibbern (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/klausdibbern.jpg
    • CEO
    • Flinc
    • http://www.flinc.org
    • Klaus is co-founder and CEO of flinc, the social mobility network which will revolutionize the way we think about ridesharing. Klaus met the original flinc team in 2009 at a founder/investor “speed dating” which he attended as member of the Business Angels Frankfurt. Prior to flinc, Klaus had co-founded DENC AG, a professional services firm for product life cycle management, which he led and grew as CEO from 1999-2005. He sold the company to PTC (global leader for product lifecycle management solutions) and oversaw the successful post-acquisition integration. Klaus had already been sales director at PTC before founding DENC – and he had come to PTC in 1995 through the company’s acquisition of Rasna, a silicon valley startup, for which he had built up the European sales and support organisation. Klaus earned an MBA from Stanford University and a PhD in mechanical engineering from Karlsruhe University.
    • Alexander Zosel (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alexanderzosel.jpg
    • CEO
    • e-volo
    • http://www.e-volo.com
    • After over a year of work on the development of the volocopter VC1, the e-volo team achieved their goal on the 21st October 2011: The first manned flight world-wide with a purely electrically powered, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft succeeded. The invention of the volocopter and the test flight with the VC1 have been celebrated globally in over 200 television reports and countless press reports as pioneer work in aviation. Alex Zosel is CEO and Co-Founder of e-volo, and is one of the three inventors of the Volocopter. In 2012, he won with e-volo the international Lindbergh Foundation Prize for innovation. He studied at the University of Karlsruhe Civil Engineering and works now for over 20 years as a successful entrepreneur. One of his earlier projects was the innovative invention of a fog distribution system for the show and event industry including patents and global launch. From 2009 to 2011, he worked in the field of biometric authentication method, and was VP Innovation of the Swiss Biometry.com AG in Lucerne. He ran for 12 years until 2009, the very successful discotheque “Unterhaus” in Karlsruhe. He was until 2009 Co-Founder and at times sports director of the first division Basketballteam BG Karlsruhe. Alex was a professional sportsman in various sports: Basketball (Bundesliga), Snowboard (World Cup) and Skateboard (2nd at the German Championships). He is an avid paraglider pilot and a certified flight instructor.
    • Thomas delos Santos (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomasdelossantos.jpg
    • CEO
    • Innovative Mobility
    • http://www.innovative-mobility.com
    • Thomas delos Santos is Co-Founder and CEO of Innovative Mobility. During his studies of business administration, he gathered managing experience in East Asia. After graduation, he chose to join a renowned consulting company for which he served a Swiss customer over some years. In that time, he focused on process optimization in an industrial setting, leading to a significant improvement of productivity by smart use of management tools. This success inspired the entrepreneur to initiate the idea of what would become Innovative Mobility: a new, intelligent approach to individual mobility. Over the past four years, he and his team have dedicated themselves to create a multi-company consortium which develops the Colibri, an ergonomic, safe and comfortable one-person light electric vehicle which will enter series production in 2015. The Colibri sets out to overcome the market barriers of today’s battery electric vehicles: intelligent use of lightweight construction principles reduces the required battery and engine sizes, offering competitive range and superior driving characteristics in a cost-efficient, yet premium package.
    • Christoph Ostermann (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christophostermann.jpg
    • CEO
    • Sonnenbatterie
    • http://www.sonnenbatterie.de
    • Christoph Ostermann is Co-Founder of the Prosol Invest Group, 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.
    • Stefan Roest (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/stefanroest.jpg
    • CTO
    • Eternal Sun
    • http://www.eternalsun.com
    • Stefan Roest is Co-Founder and CTO of Eternal Sun. He discovered his passion for solar energy driving the Nuna4 solar car through the Australian outback, winning the 2007 World Solar Challenge. Stefan studied Sustainable Energy Technology at the TU Delft. Eternal Sun is a startup based in Delft, the Netherlands, and was founded as a spin-off from a research project of Delft University of Technology. Eternal Sun specializes in solar testing technology by supplying clever, innovative and practical solar simulation systems. Eternal Sun creates new possibilities to test solar energy products of any technology and size in an easy way by offering modularly expandable, large area, steady-state solar simulators.
    • Paul Dinnissen (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/pauldinnissen.jpg
    • VP Marketing
    • Bluerise
    • http://www.bluerise.nl
    • Paul Dinnissen is VP Marketing and Communications for Bluerise. Paul has a strong entrepreneurial background in the IT and Internet industry since 1989. He sees similarities between the early Internet market and the market for ocean renewable energy today. He made the transition to renewable energy and became partner in Bluerise. In 2011, Paul founded the OTEC foundation to raise global awareness for OTEC by teaming up with OTEC initiatives around the world.
    • Martin Riedel (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/martinriedel.jpg
    • CEO
    • Enbreeze
    • http://www.enbreeze.com
    • Martin is Co-Founder and CEO of enbreeze where he aims to change the energy landscape by developing small wind turbines which provide cost-efficient and green energy, even in low wind speeds. Based on more than 3 years of R&D enbreeze developed an innovative technology to reduce the forces on the turbine by up to 5 times. This leads to significantly lower costs as well as a silent operation and a sophisticated turbine design. Martin’s previous work experiences include assignments in the sales department of a multinational automotive supplier and in the cleantech venture capital space. Afterwards, Martin co-founded plantkidz which developed an interactive educational toy. Prior to founding enbreeze Martin helped to set up an online startup in the area of fitness and lifestyle. Martin holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business from Cologne Business School and an MBA from TU Munich in cooperation with HHL Leipzig and UC Berkeley.
    • Arslane Kechkar (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/arslanekechkar.jpg
    • CEO
    • AirSerenity
    • http://www.air-serenity.com
    • Arslane Kechkar is one of three Co-Founders of AirSerenity. The company has developed an innovative and patented breakthrough technology for indoor air purification. This ensures purified air for sensitive people and avoids serious health consequences caused by poor indoor air quality in enclosed spaces. AirSerenity’s goal is to become the worldwide leader for air purification systems in buildings. An engineer in Environment and Life Sciences & Technologies (AgroParisTech), Arslane also graduated from Paris Business School (ESCP Europe) specialized in innovation and entrepreneurship, and is in charge of Business Development for AirSerenity. He usually juggles between four languages: French, Arabic, Russian and English.
    • Guido Lütsch (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/guidoluetsch.jpg
    • CEO
    • NTS
    • http://www.nts-transportsysteme.de/en/index.html
    • Founded in 2006 by the German entrepreneur and aeronautic engineer Uwe Ahrens NTS (Nature Technology Systems) became one of the leading companies worldwide in the area of high altitude wind power plants. High altitude wind is the most promising renewable energy source to substitute fossil fuels on an economical basis. Since September 2011, NTS operates a 400m linear test track in northern Germany with tremendous success. With automatic steered kites NTS is gaining approx. 10kW on the test track. 3M is one of the main investors. With a master degree as business administrator of the international renowned University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, Guido Luetsch started his business career at Kraft Foods. As Brand Manager he developed new coffees and introduced them in various European countries. He implemented the most successful international roll-out and was a founding member of the Environmental Task Force at Kraft Foods Germany. He founded his first company in 1994 in the field of New Product Development and made a successful trade sale with it. In 1996, Guido founded an international marketing agency and signed responsible for famous campaigns for global players such as Volkswagen, Schering AG and Veuve Clicquot. Since 2006, Guido works for NTS and was assigned as CEO in 2007.
    • 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.
    • Philipp Pausder (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/philipppausder.jpg
    • CEO
    • FutureWatt
    • http://www.futurewatt.de
    • Philipp A. Pausder is Co-Founder and CEO of FutureWatt, the first end-to-end energy service firm, specialized on German midcaps and real estate companies. FutureWatt capitalizes the opportunities derived from the German Energiewende for its clients as it structures and manages customized energy companies. Philipp is also the Co-Founder of Clean Venture, a boutique M&A and transaction advisory firm for distributed energy deals. Since its inception in January 2010, Clean Venture has been advising on 14 distributed energy deals across 4 continents with a total value of more than $1 billion. Prior to starting his own firm, Philipp worked for Applied Value, a Stockholm-based strategy and investment firm, where he was the project manager of the global restructuring of a world-market leader in telecommunication. Throughout his career, he has been in charge of projects in energy, high-tech and asset management across 35 countries. Philipp was recognized as “Global Champion of Sustainable Innovation 2007” by Thunderbird University, USA, for his development of emerging markets business models for Merck and Johnson&Johnson. He holds an MBA in Finance with highest distinction from IE Business School, Madrid and an MA in Marketing and Strategy from FU Berlin.
    • Nikolaus Starzacher (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/nikolausstarzacher.jpg
    • CEO
    • Discovergy
    • http://discovergy.com
    • Nikolaus Starzacher co-founded Discovergy GmbH together with Ralf Esser in 2009, believing that Discovergy will make an important contribution towards the smarter use of energy. Previously, Nikolaus founded just digits GmbH, providing a range of innovative telecommunication solutions (Sparruf, Funruf and Phonecaster) by turning arbitrage opportunities into customer benefits. In 1998, Nikolaus founded Verivox GmbH, Germany’s largest independent consumer portal for energy and telecommunications. He began his career with Mitchell Madison Group, a leading management consulting firm, working for some of the leading financial and retail institutions across Europe and Australia. Nikolaus graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics & philosophy from Oxford University in 1996.
    • Chintan Shah (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/chintanshah.jpg
    • CEO
    • Tvilight
    • http://www.tvilight.com
    • Chintan Shah is the CEO and Founder of cleantech startup company Tvilight BV. Tvilight offers an intelligent street lighting solution that adjusts the light intensity of street lights based on presence detection. The patented solution saves up to 80% in energy costs and reduces the operational costs by up to 50%. Chintan has over 10 years of work experience at various energy and high-tech companies around the world. In the past, he worked at Suzuki, Shell and Bluewater. He is currently an advisor to the EU Commission wherein he helps evaluating the technical and financial feasibility of new energy related projects with an investment range of €2–10 million. Chintan is a Mechanical engineer by background and holds a master’s degree in Management of Technology from TU Delft (the Netherlands).
    • Dr. Wilbert van de Ven (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/wilbertvandewen.jpg
    • Technology Manager
    • BiAqua
    • http://www.biaqua.nl
    • Wilbert van de Ven is a chemical engineer with a strong background in membrane and membrane process development. After finishing his Master’s degree at the University of Twente in the Membrane technology group, he obtained his PhD from the same university for a project in a consortium with Norit X-Flow (now Pentair), Vitens and Aquacare Europe developing a tool to predict and monitor fouling in ultrafiltration operation. After finishing his PhD, Van de Ven worked at Vitens as senior engineer for water treatment technology and was quickly promoted to manager of the process technology department. His team was responsible for the conceptual design and technology selection for all new treatment plants of Vitens, technical support for the operational business units and preparing and executing R&D projects. Next to his main job, van de Ven supported the newly appointed business development director in designing a new innovation strategy and process and was a member of the company’s innovation team. Since the beginning of 2012, van de Ven joined BiAqua in which he is responsible for the operational management of the company.
    • Iñaki Albeniz (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/inakialbeniz.jpg
    • Marketing & Sales Director
    • Alhymotion
    • http://www.reflectia.es
    • Iñaki is a cleantech manager with broad international experience from management positions in multinational companies focused on renewable energies. He has a civil engineering background and graduated from Polytechnic School in Merida (Spain), followed by an MBA from Universidad Pública Vasca in Basque Country. Iñaki is Co-Founder of Reflectia S.A. which specializes in ecoinnovation solutions and also Co-Founder and Marketing & Sales Director of Alhymotion S.L., a startup founded by Reflectia that develops a new technology for hydrogen generation through aluminum and water. Before co-founding Alhymotion Iñaki worked as International Key Account Executive Director at Solaria Energia y Medioambiente S.A., a solar panels manufacturer and the only solar company listed in the Spanish Stock Exchange, being responsible for implementing the internationalization strategy of the company, opening new offices and providing global solutions for customers and investors.
    • Rory Timlin (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rorytimlin.jpg
    • General Manager
    • SolarPrint
    • http://www.solarprint.ie
    • Rory Timlin is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of SolarPrint’s research and development, production scaling, planning and business development activities. He holds a BComm in Commerce and French from University College Dublin. Prior to SolarPrint, Mr. Timlin was a senior manager with Accenture, where he focused on the business development and the delivery of large scale projects in the Systems Integration and Technology Group.
    • Jan Michael Hess (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/janmichaelhess.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ecosummit
    • https://ecosummit.net
    • Jan is Founder and CEO of Ecosummit and the consulting firm Mobile Economy. Ecosummit is the Smart Green Business Network connecting startups, investors and corporates to accelerate smart green innovation. Our goal is the global transformation to the Smart Green Economy by bringing cleantech, renewable energy, emobility and sustainability to the mass market. Ecosummit Market will be an open online platform to accelerate the marketing and business development of smart green companies. Since 2010, Jan produced 3 Smart Green Business Conferences. The next Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 takes place on 14-15 November 2012 at the Langen Foundation. Jan advises smart green startups and acts as Editor-in-chief of Ecosummit.net and Ecosummit TV. Prior to founding Mobile Economy in 2000, Jan worked for Pixelpark, Icon Medialab and Ciao as Strategic Planner, Project Manager and Head of Marketing and Sales. Jan holds a business degree from the University of Mannheim, lives in Berlin and is a big fan of Japan and Jazz.


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