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    Ecosummit Berlin 2023 Speakers

     

     

    We’re happy to announce 76 speakers including 45 startups at Ecosummit Berlin 14-15 June 2023. All speakers pitch for 5 minutes on the same stage, that’s the unique concept of Ecosummit loved by our participants. Special thanks to our 4 wonderful session moderators at ECO23 Berlin: Julia Padberg, David Hunt, Gerard Reid and Bart Markus. Please contact us if you want to pitch your startup or promote your fund and portfolio as one of our sponsors.

     

     

    • Jan Michael Hess (Host)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/janmichaelhess.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ecosummit
    • https://ecosummit.net
    • Jan is Founder and CEO of Ecosummit, angel investor and advisor. Our mission is maximising our impact until 2030, the deadline for net zero carbon. Ecosummit accelerates smart green startups in energy, mobility and cities to save our climate, decarbonise our economy and electrify our planet. Our conferences are startup markets enabling fundraising, lead and co-investing, corporate venturing, open innovation and M&A. Since 2010, we organised 22 physical Ecosummit events in 5 countries as well as 20 Ecosummit Zoom online events. Ecosummit TV on YouTube provides 1.300 videos (730.000 views). Prior to founding Mobile Economy in 2000, Jan worked for Pixelpark, Icon Medialab and Ciao as Strategy Consultant, Senior Project Manager and Head of Marketing and Sales. Holding a business degree from the University of Mannheim, he lives in Berlin and Barcelona with his wife Simone and their son Mateo and is a big fan of Jazz, Japan and sports (padel, yoga, mountain biking, kayaking, swimming, basketball and hiking).
    • Julia Padberg (Co-Host)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/juliapadberg.jpg
    • Partner
    • SET Ventures
    • http://www.setventures.com
    • Julia is a Partner at SET Ventures. Her mission is to reduce the climate impact of the energy sector through digital innovation, together with industry-leading entrepreneurs. She is deeply experienced in finance, energy, and cleantech. Since 2016, Julia has been instrumental in strengthening SET’s European network and visibility, as well as spearheading new investments. Previously, Julia was active in corporate finance and investment advisory in cleantech and energy, amongst others at merchant bank Kempen & Co. She advised on M&A transactions, IPOs, investments, and fundraising processes at European energy companies. She was also involved in establishing new energy projects, business cases, structured financing, and advising on growth strategies. Julia holds a Master’s degree in Environmental & Resource Economics from University College London. She is a board member and trusted advisor at Flexidao, Trunkrs and Sensorfact, and formerly at Depsys (acquired). She was also a board observer at Energyworx, GreenCom Networks (acquired) and Greenflux (acquired).
    • David Hunt (Co-Host)
    • 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.
    • Gerard Reid (Co-Host)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/gerardreid.jpg
    • Partner
    • Alexa Capital
    • http://alexa-capital.com
    • Gerard Reid is a Co-founder and Partner at Alexa Capital. He is focused on assisting people and organizations in the energy and mobility areas who are struggling to understand and come to terms with unpredictable and rapid change going on around them. Gerard has developed a strong reputation as a leading global expert in the energy and mobility space. He is an avid blogger and author with a following of more than 150k across several platforms and he is the co-host to “REDEFINING ENERGY” podcast. A member of the World Economic Forum Global Council for Energy, he regularly attends Davos and other leading industry events. He has spent over fifteen years working in investment banking (equity research, fund management and corporate finance) with a focus on both the energy transition and the digital energy revolution the sector is going through. Prior to founding Alexa Capital, he was Managing Director and Head of European Cleantech Research at Jefferies & Co. Gerard is an adjunct professor at Imperial College and a lecturer at the University of Berlin. He was born and raised in Dublin and received a Bachelor of Business Studies and Master of Arts as well as Higher Diploma in Education from Trinity College Dublin. Currently, he works in London and lives outside Berlin in a small village.
    • Bart Markus (Co-Host)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/bartmarkus.jpg
    • CEO
    • GAP Technology Holding
    • http://www.gaptechnologyholding.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.
    • Fabian Sacharowitz (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/fabiansacharowitz.jpg
    • Business Creation Officer
    • InnoEnergy
    • https://www.innoenergy.com
    • InnoEnergy is the world’s largest early stage investor in the field of sustainable energy innovation with more than 200 investments across Europe. Fabian is responsible for InnoEnergy´s investments in startups and scaleups in the DACH region. Previously, Fabian worked for KPMG in energy-related fields and founded 3S Antriebe, the world’s only manufacturer of fully decentral operable electric actuators for buried valves in water, gas and district heating grids. Fabian is attorney at law and holds a Master degree in Physics.
    • Niclas Carlsson (Accelerator)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/niclascarlsson.jpg
    • Director International Market Development
    • Swedish Energy Agency
    • http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/
    • Niclas Carlsson is the Director of International Market Development at the Swedish Energy Agency, which is responsible for the agency´s strategical activities globally – both in terms of business and investment promotion. Before joining the Swedish Energy Agency, he represented the Government of Sweden in various international positions, most recently as the Trade Commissioner of Sweden to Saudi Arabia at the Embassy of Sweden in Riyadh. Apart from representing the Government of Sweden on three continents, Niclas Carlsson has vast experience as a company advisor having supported over three hundred companies in their international pursuits. Niclas Carlsson has a background in Business Administration as well as International Relations from Stockholm University and Free University of Berlin.
    • Alexander Starchenko (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alexanderstarchenko.jpg
    • CEO
    • First Imagine Ventures
    • http://www.firstimagine.com
    • Alexander is the Founder and the key driver of First Imagine! In partnership with passionate visionaries with big ideas and global ambition he helps build great companies disrupting established industries. He has over 25 years experience in energy and industry innovations. Prior to establishing First Imagine!, Alexander Starchenko was working at Novolipetsk Steel Company, one of the world’s largest steel producers. Alexander was holding the position of vise-president to focus on energy and energy efficiency. He has served on several boards as a member and trusted advisor. His extensive knowledge of Energy Transition, Industry 4.0 and IoT and expertise in investment banking are invaluable to identify new technologies and opportunities for future commercialization.
    • Falk Müller-Veerse (Service Provider)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/falkmuellerveerse.jpg
    • Partner
    • Bryan, Garnier & Co
    • https://www.bryangarnier.com
    • Falk is a seasoned deal maker being a Partner in the Energy Transition & Sustainability practice and the Head of DACH at investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co. Before that he founded Cartagena Capital. and has led over 150 transactions to support technology companies in their growth phase through fundraising rounds, M&A and IPOs. Falk is the former leader of Durlacher Germany (acquired by Lazard). He has been a board member of various private and public technology companies in UK, Switzerland, Germany and Finland and has been featured on TV (e.g. CNN, BBC) and in publications including the Wall Street Journal Europe, Financial Times and Time Magazine. He is a frequent speaker and chairman of conferences globally regarding technology investments. He has earlier held various positions in management, consulting, marketing, business development and research for companies including Nokia, GartnerGroup, McGraw-Hill and Logica Consulting. Falk has received a bachelor’s degree in technology management (mechanical engineering) from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and an MBA from CSUSB in the US. He has also studied International Business Management at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.
    • Dr. Robert Trezona (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/roberttrezona.jpg
    • Founding Partner
    • Kiko Ventures
    • https://www.kiko.vc
    • Robert has been working in technology venture for over 9 years, focussing on cleantech and materials opportunities. He has experience both as an investor, as a manager of start-ups and as a strategy consultant. Prior to joining IP Group in 2011, he was Head of Research and Development at the Carbon Trust, where he set up their “Research Challenge” technology venturing initiative, which created and capitalised innovative companies in advanced photovoltaics, second-generation biofuels and fuel cells. He started his career in fuel cells working for Johnson Matthey and then as the leader of the materials and process development teams at Ceres Power, which listed on AIM in 2004. He has also worked as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, where he focussed on strategy and operations in the energy, technology and materials sectors. He has a triple First and a PhD from the University of Cambridge and won the 1996 Goldsmiths Prize as the top Cambridge graduate in Materials Science.
    • Veronique Hördemann (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/veroniquehoerdemann.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • Future Energy Ventures
    • https://fev.vc
    • Veronique is an experienced Managing Partner with a strong track record in venture capital as well as the energy industry and commodity trading business. She was part of the founding team of Innogy Ventures where she successfully built up the team and fund as part of a small founders’ team and moved on to FEV as authorized representative. She holds board/observer seats at various portfolio companies (GridX, Akselos, TechSee and ShieldIOT).​
    • Todd O’Neill (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/toddoneill.jpg
    • CEO
    • Vestas Ventures
    • https://www.vestas.com/ventures
    • Todd joined Vestas in January 2022 as CEO of Vestas Ventures the corporate venture arm of Vestas Wind Systems. Todd has a long history of working with technology businesses as both investor and advisor. He is driven by strategic transformation, and focuses on what pain points businesses solve for their end customer. He enjoys collaborating with management teams to secure clarity in their strategy, and find enablers for accelerated growth and success. He is also currently involved with Gro Capital, a highly successful mid-cap private equity firm focused on the SaaS space with in excess of €1 billion assets under management. Todd has previously worked in senior positions within investment banking and global corporate development. He lives outside Denmark with his partner, two sets of twins and small handful of dogs.
    • Erin Hallock (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/erinhallock.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • BP Ventures
    • https://www.bp.com/en/global/ventures.html
    • Erin joined bp Ventures in July 2018 and is responsible for the origination, appraisal, completion and management of a portfolio of investments origination, investment and portfolio management activities to accelerate bp’s effort to achieve Net Zero. Erin is particularly focused on digital and deep tech investments. Erin has spent her 20-year career advising businesses, initially as a management consultant supporting Fortune 100 and 500 technology businesses and more recently as investor where she has participated in over 20 investments. Erin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. She also holds a post-Baccalaureate degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BA in International Studies from the University of Washington.
    • Laurent Rambaud (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/laurentrambaud.jpg
    • Investment Director
    • Engie New Ventures
    • http://www.engieventures.com
    • Laurent Rambaud is an Investment Director at ENGIE New Ventures. With more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry, Laurent joined the ENGIE Group in 2008 where he notably developed new business for the energy transition of shipping. In 2019, he moved to the corporate venture arm of ENGIE, ENGIE New Ventures, motivated by his passion about new technologies and solutions to boost the transformation of the global energy sector, as an investor and board member. ENGIE New Ventures was founded in 2014 as the corporate venture arm of the global energy provider ENGIE. Its €180 million fund is dedicated to making minority investments in technology startups that complement existing activities and resources to spur internal innovation within ENGIE.
    • Michel Hunsicker (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/michelhunsicker.jpg
    • Investment Director
    • EDF Pulse Ventures
    • https://www.edf.fr/en/pulse
    • Michel Hunsicker is Investment Director at EDF Pulse Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of EDF. He has more than 15 years of experience in large organisations of the energy sector with various responsibilities across power production optimisation, commodity trading, risk management and corporate finance. He held as well executive roles in several startups operating in AI, telcos and e-commerce. Michel graduated as an engineer from Centrale-Supélec and holds a MSc from Technical University of Darmstadt, an MBA from Sorbonne University and an executive MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
    • Ashley Klapwijk (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/ashleyklapwijk.jpg
    • Senior Investment Associate
    • Eneco Ventures
    • https://www.eneco.com/what-we-do/ventures/
    • Ashley started her career as an Asset Management Trainee at APG, one of the world’s largest pension investors. She held various positions – from risk to innovation – and started as Portfolio Manager within the Infrastructure Europe team after her traineeship. She was responsible for deal execution and asset management for infrastructure investments with a ticket size between €250m – €1bn. As a portfolio manager, she gained hands-on deal experience and broad sector knowledge. She held various asset management positions in the airport, toll road, PPP, fiber and smart cities sector. Ashley transitioned from Private Equity to Venture Capital when she joined Eneco Ventures in 2022, as she is passionate about innovation and investing in disruptive startups that speed up the energy transition. She enjoys working with founders and shareholders to help startups realize their ambitions. Ashley holds a BSc in International Business & Management, a MSc in International Economics & Business and a MSc in Real Estate from the University of Groningen. She lives in Rotterdam, enjoys cycling, outdoor activities and you can ask her anything about coffee!
    • Metin Zerman (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/metinzerman.jpg
    • Investment Manager
    • Energie 360°
    • https://www.energie360.ch/de/energie-360/portrait/investitionen/smart-energy-investitionsfonds/
    • Metin Zerman is an Investment Manager at Energie 360° AG. He has more than 12 years of experience as an engineer within the automotive industry and innovation management across different industries. He started his career at ZF Friedrichshafen AG and was responsible for transmission control development for customers such as Iveco, Mercedes, Hyundai and VDL. As a consultant at the Technical University of Munich he was advising Medtech, Life Science and Cleantech spinoffs from inception to market entry, before joining Swisscom’s digital innovation department. He holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and an MBA in General Management.
    • Julia Schmidt (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/juliaschmidt.jpg
    • Investment Manager
    • Shell Ventures
    • https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/shell-ventures.html
    • Julia is an Investment Manager at Shell Ventures based in Berlin and focuses on low carbon investments especially around power, heat, energy storage, mobility and other decarbonization solutions. Prior to working for Shell Ventures, she worked as Operations Manager at Amazon in Germany and as Geoscientist and Opportunity Manager in Shell’s upstream gas business in the Netherlands. Julia holds an BSc in Mineral Resources Engineering from RWTH Aachen, an MSc in Geo-energy Engineering from TU Delft and an MBA from INSEAD.
    • Fernando Sandoval (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/fernandosandoval.jpg
    • Head of Enel Innovation Hub Europe
    • Enel
    • https://openinnovability.enel.com
    • Since 2008 Fernando has been involved in different activities within the Innovation Areas of Group Enel and Endesa, with focus since 2012 on the scouting and collaboration with startups and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, having been appointed Head of Enel Innovation Hub Europe in 2022. This Hub is member of the network of nine spaces Group Enel has opened around the world in order to develop its relationship with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and identify those startups able to solve the innovation challenges of its Business Lines. Previously to Endesa, which he joined in 2001, Fernando worked for 8 years in managerial positions in the areas of Customer Operations and Marketing in the Telecommunications and Food & Beverage Mass Consumption industries. Fernando holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad de los Andes (1991) and an MBA degree from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (1996).
    • Adam Kostyál (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/adamkostyal.jpg
    • SVP, Head of Listings, EMEA
    • Nasdaq
    • http://www.nasdaqomxnordic.com
    • Adam Kostyál is the Senior Vice President of the Global Listing Services and head of European Listings for Nasdaq. Besides the Nordic Exchanges, Nasdaq has more than 140 companies that are either primarily listed or dual listed on Nasdaq in USA. In addition Nasdaq has recently launched the Nasdaq Private Market which will be an offering for private issuers world-wide. Adam has been with Nasdaq for the past 12 years. He started his career at OMX as a Sales Director, and then became Head of the Strategic Initiative Groups in 2006. Most recently, Adam was VP of Market Technology Sales responsible for sales, account management, and business development for the European, Central and Eastern European regions. Prior to Nasdaq, Adam held various positions with Enron, Cell Network and Bloomberg. He holds a BSc in Economics and Marketing from Vrije Universiteit de Bruxelles and speaks four languages including English, Swedish, Italian and French.
    • Moritz Wickert (Corporate)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/moritzwickert.jpg
    • Global Director New Business & Innovation
    • Iqony Solar Energy Solutions
    • https://www.sens-energy.com/en/
    • Moritz Wickert is responsible for New Business and Innovation at SENS (Iqony Solar Energy Solutions). Moritz is working in the field of renewable energy since 2007. Before covering his current role, he was heading the global C&I segment at SENS and developed it to one of the leading rooftop EPC service providers in Germany and Europe. Moritz joined SENS predecessor company in 2013 after being Co-Founder of 2 startups before and is currently involved in one of SENS’s ventures, the blockchain crowdinvestment platform Wattify GmbH.
    • Dr. Christoph Frei (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christophfrei.jpg
    • Partner
    • Emerald
    • https://emerald.vc
    • Christoph is a Partner at Emerald, leading the development of the Global Energy Transformation Alliance (GETalliance). Christoph is also a Professor and advisor to the President of the Swiss Federal Technical Institute in Lausanne (EPFL) and a member of the board of the Energy Web Foundation (EWF). Prior to joining Emerald Christoph was CEO and Secretary General of the World Energy Council (WEC) for ten years and before that Senior Director and member of the Executive Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in charge of Energy for nine years. At ease with strategic issues in the energy transformation context and recognised for his facilitation skills, Christoph regularly stimulates board and strategy meetings for leading energy and technology companies around the world and has a track record as facilitator of dialogue on behalf of governments and at international high-level events. In 2012, Christoph became a member of the high-level advisory group to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sustainable Energy for all. Christoph received his PhD es sc. from EPFL. He holds a diploma in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in energy economics & management, a master’s degree in econometrics and a master’s degree in applied ethics. His publications cover fields including energy scenarios, innovation, energy & climate policy, global energy governance, energy-water nexus, energy access and the future of utilities. His PhD thesis was awarded with the ABB Energy Research Award 2001.
    • Anton Arts (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/antonarts.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • SET Ventures
    • http://www.setventures.com
    • Anton Arts is a Managing Partner at SET Ventures since 2018. He is a board member of Green Eagle Solutions, ESFORIN, Instagrid and Greenflux (acquired by DKV). From 2010 until 2018, he was an independent advisor providing strategic advisory and corporate finance services to deeptech companies. Before that, Anton was a Partner at US firm New Venture Partners where he worked closely with the R&D organizations of major European technology companies such as Philips to incubate and invest in spin-out transactions. Prior to NVP, Anton was a Partner at Gilde IT Fund, a leading international venture capital fund based in the Netherlands that he joined in 1997. His track record includes 20+ investments and exit transactions valued at >€1B. He started his career at Uniface, a successful Dutch software company acquired by Compuware in 1994. Anton holds a degree in Business Administration from Nyenrode University.
    • Matthew Chagan (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/matthewchagan.jpg
    • Partner
    • Sustainable Future Ventures
    • https://www.sfv.vc
    • Matthew Chagan is a Partner at Sustainable Future Ventures. Prior to joining SFV, Matt was a partner at Rich Products Ventures. Matthew has over 20 years of experience as a technology investor, most of which was spent in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to his role at Rich Products Ventures, he was previously a co-founder of Synapse Partners and a principal at Trident Capital. He has invested across Enterprise Software, FinTech, FoodTech, and ConsumerTech into companies such as Future Meat, BlueNalu, Nium, and Brightroll (acquired by Yahoo). He has also spent a number of years on the operations side of technology businesses, including corporate development leadership roles at Ripple, a San Francisco-based blockchain and financial technology company, and Opera, an Oslo-based consumer technology company. Matt began his career in technology investment banking at Bank of America and holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Colgate University.
    • Philipp Göhre (Family Office)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/philippgoehre.jpg
    • Lead Growth Capital
    • Haniel
    • https://www.haniel.de/portfolio/growth-capital/
    • Philipp leads the €600M Growth Capital initiative at Haniel. Since 2019, he has been responsible for the company’s cleantech-focused startup and fund investments. Prior to this role, he headed Strategy & Portfolio Management at Haniel for more than eight years. Philipp started his career at Deutsche Bank before joining UBS Investment Bank and later the M&A department of Ørsted, Denmark’s largest energy company. He holds a business administration degree from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management.
    • Markus Hökfelt (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/markushokfelt.jpg
    • Investment Director
    • SEB Greentech
    • https://sebgroup.com/our-offering/financing-and-investment-banking/greentech
    • Prior to joining SEB, Markus was the first Fund Manager of Almi Invest Greentech started in 2017. Markus has an extensive operative experience in leadership positions working with international business development in the energy transition, e.g. Solar PVs, energy visualization, demand response and EV charging. Markus is the co-founder of Unimi Solutions and holds a Master of Science and Mechanical Engineering from Lund University. Currently Markus serves on the Board of Directors for CorPower Ocean and C-Green Technology, and as an observer in EnginZyme.
    • Heikki Koponen (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/heikkikoponen.jpg
    • Market Analysis & Sourcing Manager
    • Fortum
    • https://www.fortum.com/about-us/startup-collaboration
    • Heikki Koponen is a Manager at Fortum External Venturing. Heikki has a background in Industrial Engineering and Management, and prior to joining Fortum he was responsible for biz dev in a Power-to-X tech startup. Heikki is passionate about accelerating the energy transition and thinks helping innovative startups to grow and develop is one of the best ways to do this.
    • Alexander Hain (CVC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alexanderhain.jpg
    • Senior Investment Manager
    • EWE
    • https://www.ewe.com/en/ewe-group/shaping-the-future/venture-capital
    • Alexander Hain is Senior Investment Manager at EWE. He is responsible for developing the venture building activities, managing the strategic investments and portfolio companies. In his role he is a board member of portfolio startup Solytic. Before, Alexander worked for Vattenfall and the German pump manufacturer Wilo. In his role as the Head of Wincubator, he was building up the innovation lab (Wincubator) from scratch. Alexander has a long experience in business model innovation, building startups and investing in them.
    • Max ter Horst (Accelerator VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/maxterhorst.jpg
    • Managing Partner
    • Rockstart Energy Fund
    • https://www.rockstart.com/energy/
    • Max is Managing Partner of Rockstart’s Energy Fund, offering early stage startups access to capital, market, expertise and community through a customized accelerator program and follow-on investments up to series B. Max is Dutch and based in Amsterdam. He has been active in renewable energy since 2003, when he helped Essent (currently RWE) to establish their wind business in Germany. As Director at EWT, the largest Dutch wind turbine manufacturer, he was responsible for corporate finance, business development and strategy. Further, he was co-founder and CEO of e-kite, a Dutch startup which developed kite power systems. Before entering the renewable energy sector, Max worked several years at McKinsey as Engagement Manager. He holds MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering at Delft University of Technology, Business Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam and an MBA from INSEAD.
    • Alexandre Braconnier (VC)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alexandrebraconnier.jpg
    • Chief Investment Officer
    • Industrya
    • https://www.industrya.com
    • Alexandre is the Chief Investment Officer of Industrya, a VC fund based in Belgium, and focused on industrial startups. Before joining Industrya, Alexandre held various corporate finance and strategy positions, first in the cement and lime industry (Heidelberg Cement and Lhoist), and then in the investment banking industry (Degroof Petercam). He has been posted in Singapore when Heidelberg expanded its footprint in Asia. Later in his career he was posted in Canada to develop the presence of Degroof Petercam. Alexandre has a Msc in Management from UCLouvain and in Finance from Solvay.
    • Dr. Rigbert Fischer (Family Office)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rigbertfischer.jpg
    • CEO
    • Blueworld Group
    • https://blueworld.group/en
    • Dr. Rigbert Fischer has a degree in Industrial Engineering (Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing) and a PhD in Engineering (Dr.-Ing.) from Technical University Darmstadt. During his studies he already started his career as Managing Director with Fischer-Group, a business owned by him and his family. After he scaled the business successfully he sold his shares and founded Blueworld Group in 2014 (originally named Blue Dynamic), where he acts as investor and manager for different companies in a wide range of industries. Since then he already founded, developed and sold several companies successfully – always pursuing the goal of harmonizing successful economic activity and sustainability.
    • Dr. Sebastian Berning (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/sebastianberning.jpg
    • Co-CEO
    • Instagrid
    • https://www.instagrid.co
    • Sebastian Berning is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of instagrid, which develops green mobile power solutions for professional needs. After finishing university education in physics and computer science in Germany and Switzerland, Sebastian eventually went on to pursue his PhD with later Nobel Laureate Stefan Hell in Göttingen, where he contributed a series of highly cited articles in the field of Neuroscience. Driven by the desire to also make cutting-edge technology commercially available, Sebastian joined Robert Bosch corporation in 2012, where he was quickly drawn to battery technology and resulting new business opportunities. Amongst other management positions, he was in charge of the software & controls team of Bosch’s newly founded stationary energy storage business in Europe and the USA. In 2015, Sebastian moved on to manage the electronics development for battery-powered tools of the world’s largest power tools company. Together with his long-time colleague and friend Andreas Sedlmayr he made a leap of faith in 2018 to found instagrid, convinced that there was a substantial unmet need for green energy solutions in mobile applications. At instagrid, Sebastian is driving the development of the company’s groundbreaking software-defined battery technology, working closely with early customers to displace combustion engines in many non-road applications.
    • Dr. Davor Sutija (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/davorsutija.jpg
    • CEO
    • NexWafe
    • https://www.nexwafe.com
    • Dr. Davor Sutija is the CEO of NexWafe and joined the company in August 2020 to assist with the company’s anticipated capital raise. Davor is an experienced executive with a focus on commercializing technology through new product introduction and international go-to-market execution. Davor was co-founder and CEO of SiNor AS, together with Alf Bjørseth and Reidar Langmo. SiNor, the sister company of ScanWafer in REC, produced single crystal Si ingots for photovoltaic applications and arsenic-doped n-type ingots for discrete electronics. After REC, SiNor continued operations as Norwegian Crystals. Davor has nine years of experience as a public market CEO from Thinfilm, which pioneered NFC mobile marketing solutions using printed electronics. Under his leadership, Thinfilm received the 2012 CNN/Time World Technology Award, the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award, as well as the 2018 Printed Electronics Manufacturing Award, and was awarded an invited keynote at Moble World Congress 2015. Prior to Thinfilm, Davor was SVP Enterprise Products at FAST, when it was acquired by Microsoft for 1.3 Billion USD. Davor serves on the KLA Orbotech Advisory Board, and has been non-executive director at technology companies Cegal, SensoNor, Comperio, Owera, and Birdstep. Dr. Sutija is a graduate of the Jerome Fisher Management and Technology program at Wharton, and holds M.S./Ph.D. Chemical Engineering degrees from UC Berkeley, where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow.
    • Dr. Nicholas Hawker (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/nicholashawker.jpg
    • CEO
    • First Light Fusion
    • https://firstlightfusion.com
    • Nick’s research into fusion began in 2007 as part of his masters thesis, where he worked at the University of Oxford with Yiannis Ventikos. This work continued into a DPhil, where he performed hydrodynamic simulations of shock-driven cavity collapse. These simulations showed that cavity collapse leads to inertial confinement of the gas inside the cavity and revealed that extreme states of matter could be reached, possibly entering the regime for fusion. To explore the concept of energy generation via this process, Nick and Yiannis co-founded First Light Fusion Ltd in 2011. Nick also spent three years tutoring at Lady Margaret Hall during his studies. After finishing his DPhil in 2012, Nick joined First Light Fusion as CEO and CTO, and continues to oversee the technical vision of the company.
    • Andreas Thorsheim (Listed Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/andreasthorsheim.jpg
    • CEO
    • Otovo
    • https://www.otovo.com
    • Andreas Thorsheim is the CEO and co-founder of Otovo, Europe’s leading marketplace for residential solar and batteries. Before founding Otovo in 2016, Andreas found himself working as a business journalist and editor before becoming a C-suite newspaper executive, overseeing mass structural change at one of Norway’s leading newspapers, Bergens Tidende, helping lead it through a successful regeneration. Andreas is currently a board member of Equality Check (a platform for anonymous, crowdsourced reviews about equality in the workplace) and PatientSky (offering innovative IT solutions for patients and healthcare practitioners). Previously, he was a board member of the leading Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, Norwegian state lottery operator, Norsk Tipping, and Teknologirådet (the Norwegian Board of Technology, the Norwegian parliament’s technology advisory council).
    • Melchior Schulze Brock (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/melchiorschulzebrock.jpg
    • CEO
    • Enviria
    • https://enviria.energy/en
    • Melchior Schulze Brock is the founder and CEO of ENVIRIA. ENVIRIA is the leading startup in Germany specializing in B2B solar, offering innovative solar-centric solutions and scalable Energy-as-a-Service concepts. Melchior founded ENVIRIA in 2017 motivated by the conviction that solar should be radically easy, commercially attractive and rapidly attainable for businesses. With almost 100 employees, ranging from financial experts to own inhouse operational units, the company has developed more than 100 commercial projects and continues its exponential growth towards becoming a decentralized renewable energy utility in its own right. Melchior holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Economics from Aston University, UK and has experience in investment banking at BNP Paribas (France), Deutsche Bank (UK) and Barclays Capital (Germany).
    • Dr. Michael Peters (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/michaelpeters.jpg
    • CEO
    • Sunvigo
    • https://www.sunvigo.de
    • Michael Peters is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sunvigo. Jointly with Bastian Bauwens and Vigen Nikogosian he launched Sunvigo in 2020 with the mission to radically simplify the access of end consumers to roof-top solar power. With its solar-as-a-service product Sunvigo is building the foundation for an interconnected Green Power Community in Europe that accelerates the energy transition in the building sector. Michael installed his first solar PV rooftop system in 2001. Ever since his purpose is to contribute to the renewable energy revolution. He holds a PhD from ETH Zurich on solar technology & innovation. During his 10 years with McKinsey he advised utilities and technology providers on business building in the renewable power sector.
    • Jürgen Mayerhofer (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/juergenmayerhofer.jpg
    • CEO
    • Enspired
    • https://www.enspired-trading.com
    • Jürgen is co-founder and CEO of enspired, a fully digital energy trading company with global ambitions. Before enspired, he was the CEO of VisoTech, a leading algorithmic trading software vendor that TMX / Trayport acquired. Jürgen has 20 years of experience in the energy industry with a strong focus on technology. He firmly believes that the way energy is traded will soon change drastically – at enspired, there is no room for trading screens and human intervention. Jürgen is passionate about using the newest technology to accelerate the transition to green energy. He is a Stanford LEAD alumni and holds an MBA in energy management.
    • Marcel Smit (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/marcelsmit.jpg
    • CEO
    • Energyworx
    • http://www.energyworx.com
    • Marcel’s playground for the past 25 years has been the global enterprise software market. Early in his career he cut his chops at Oracle and MicroStrategy. As a hands-on CEO for the past 15+ years, he’s worked with a number of young and fast growing companies in Europe and the U.S. Marcel enjoys “dress down” day, but more often than not you can find him in one of his unique suits, each of which has a specific theme. “Energy” is his favorite (well before he joined Energyworx!), as he is a strong believer in walking the extra mile. Another favorite suit is “Focus”, as life is too short to waste on things that don’t matter – and being focused means getting things done. The meaning of the “FIFO” suit is something that is best discussed over a glass or two of wine. Marcel gets his energy from a broad range of music, working out and travel. Since he’s based both in San Francisco and The Netherlands, plenty of travel is guaranteed. Marcel is passionate about building great teams, designing the company strategy and executing the company’s go-to-market plans.
    • Christoph Gardlo (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/christophgardlo.jpg
    • COO
    • ESFORIN
    • https://www.esforin.com/en/
    • Christoph Gardlo is Co-Founder and COO of ESFORIN (Energy Services for Industry). The company’s core business is algorithm trading in intraday markets with clients’ flexibilities – helping companies to optimize energy costs and reduce significant amounts of CO2 by integrating more renewable generation into the grid. Before becoming an independent energy entrepreneur, Christoph gained profound experience in the energy markets in various companies. In the 2000s he joined E.ON in various positions on the gas side, focussed on large industrial and power plant accounts. In 2010 he joined Cargill as Head of Gas Sales Germany before moving to natGAS AG as their Head of Key Accounts Portfolioservices & International Sales. In 2014/2015 Christian Hövelhaus and Christoph Gardlo launched ESFORIN.
    • Rod Macgregor (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rodmacgregor.jpg
    • CEO
    • GlassPoint
    • https://www.glasspoint.com
    • Rod was the founding CEO of GlassPoint in 2009. For more than three decades, he has led global companies across the United States, Europe, China and the Middle East. Rod’s companies have partnered with a range of multinational corporations in the energy and technologies industries, including Royal Dutch Shell, AT&T, Intel and Volkswagen. His first company, Insignia Solutions Ltd., received the Queen of England’s award for technical achievement and the Queen’s award for export achievement, and subsequently went public on NASDAQ. He has founded three other venture capital-backed high tech companies.
    • Hermann Stockinger (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/hermannstockinger.jpg
    • CEO
    • Easelink
    • https://easelink.com
    • Hermann as founder and CEO of Easelink is an entrepreneur fully dedicated to shaping a sustainable future and facilitating e-mobility at scale. Easelink is a European high-tech company that focuses on the development of sustainable automated charging technology for electric vehicles. Hermann studied in Austria, England and Mexico holding a master’s degree in Energy- and Environmental Engineering and Business Economics. Starting his automotive career at BMW Group Munich he soon began his visionary work in the field of e-mobility. With his passion in environmental engineering and a vision for an e- mobility concept, he founded Easelink in 2016. His and the company’s vision is to set an automated and globally standardized charging system, with the so-called Matrix Charging® technology, for high-volume vehicle models in place. To implement a global Matrix Charging® standard, Hermann together with his global team is working with leading international automotive and supplier companies on the basis of licensing models. The licensees can market the system independently, which enables the best possible scaling of the technology and business model across manufacturers.
    • Anna Björklou (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/annabjorklou.jpg
    • CEO
    • Epishine
    • https://www.epishine.com
    • With previous extensive and valuable expertise in several global industrial manufacturing industries Anna has a solid foundation to scale up businesses. Anna has been the CEO of Epishine since 2020 with a significant focus on scaling up the firm in all aspects, including creating a strong market, cutting-edge R&D in organic photovoltaics, industrialization, and operational excellence.
    • 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.
    • Emanuel Heisenberg (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/emanuelheisenberg.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ecoworks
    • https://www.ecoworks.tech
    • Emanuel Heisenberg is Co-founder and CEO of Ecoworks, a startup that automates planning and industrializes renovation to enable the housing and construction industry to decarbonize the European building stock. Prior to Ecoworks, he founded and managed startups in the renewable energy sector. Emanuel Heisenberg advises the German government in heat and decentralized energy policies and publishes articles & books on energy & climate. He holds a Master’s degree from Cambridge University.
    • Dr. Mamoun Taher (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/mamountaher.jpg
    • CEO
    • Graphmatech
    • https://graphmatech.com
    • An awards winning deep tech founder, Mamoun acts as CEO and CTO of Graphmatech in Sweden. Leading a passionate and high performing team enabling the green transition with graphene, the Noble Prize winning and the world’s most promising material. The upcycling of Li-ion batteries black mass waste into graphene, reducing hydrogen gas leakage by more than 60 % and improving batteries performance by more than 80 % are not science fiction, they are technical breakthroughs accomplished by passionate team for revolutionizing the energy and electrification sectors. Converting technical breakthroughs into commercial values is even more exciting. Before Graphmatech, Mamoun worked in the advanced materials technology sector at ABB and Uppsala University. The passion for solving complicated climate challenges through innovation and leadership is the driving force for Mamoun to leap the extra miles to come.
    • Andres Anijalg (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/andresanijalg.jpg
    • CEO
    • Roofit Solar
    • https://roofit.solar
    • Andres Anijalg is Co-Founder and CEO 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 and renewable energy producer in Baltics. His key responsibility was the 570MW greenfield power plant development in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where he acted as the Project Director and the CEO of the project company. The massive $2.1B project reached its Financial Close in 2017. Andres has been also working almost 10 years at Swedbank branch 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.
    • Martin Baart (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/martinbaart.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ecoligo
    • http://www.ecoligo.com
    • Martin Baart has more than 18 years of experience in the renewable energy industry with more than 14 years in emerging markets. He started his career with a German regional municipality on grid integration of grid-scale solar PV projects. During his Masters he lived and worked in Australia for the global leader in microgrids, Powercorp, on the technical integration of solar and wind solutions into microgrids, mainly for remote communities, mining operations and island utilities. Moving into business development he opened up the European office for Powercorp. After successfully entering the market, he supported the management in its sale of the business to ABB. For ABB he built up the microgrid business unit in Madrid, after which he left to join Berlin based startup OneShore Energy as CTO and first employee. With them he developed the East African markets and technologies suited for the risk minimization of off-grid solar PPAs. After building up the company, he left in 2015 to prepare for the foundation of Ecoligo, addressing the key barrier for solar projects in emerging markets: a fully serviced and financed solution, taking away all worries from the clients. Since then, he lead the business into regional hubs in Central America, West Africa, East Africa and Southeast Asia and introduced the solution also for energy efficiency projects in the markets. Martin is a qualified Electronics Technician, has a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Trier University of Applied Sciences, a Master of Business and Engineering from Steinbeis University in Berlin and a Global Executive Master of Business Administration from IE business school in Madrid. He also is a Certified Expert for Climate & Renewable Energy Finance from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. In February 2020, Martin joined German President Frank Walter Steinmeier as part of an economic delegation to Kenya.
    • Dr. Ernesto Garnier (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/ernestogarnier.jpg
    • CEO
    • Einhundert
    • https://einhundert.de/en/
    • Ernesto is the Founder and CEO of EINHUNDERT Energie GmbH in Cologne, Germany. Before EINHUNDERT, he spent 6+ years with the Boston Consulting Group, helping leading European utilities launch business models around smart meters and distributed energy technology. Ernesto also holds a PhD in Energy Economics from RWTH Aachen, having conducted research on virtual power plants and solar power market integration. His educational experience includes an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Business from the Rotterdam School of Management / University of Southern California. Other than cleantech, Ernesto is passionate about politics, Basketball and (Latin) music.
    • 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.
    • Janice Goodenough (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/janicegoodenough.jpg
    • CEO
    • Hydrogrid
    • https://hydrogrid.eu
    • Janice Goodenough is the CEO of Hydrogrid, which offers a digitalisation solution for the optimal control & dispatch of hydro power plants. She holds an MSc from Vienna University of Technology (Applied Mathematics), has more than 10 years management experience in the energy industry (i.a. at Austria’s largest hydro power producer), is a member of the board at the German Chamber of Commerce in Austria and leads the Technical University of Vienna’s Alumni Club Energy Circle.
    • James Johnston (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/jamesjohnston.jpg
    • CEO
    • Piclo
    • https://www.piclo.energy
    • Piclo Flex is a leading independent marketplace that brings together flex providers with system operators to procure local flexibility services. James Johnston is the CEO and Co-founder of Piclo, the world’s leading independent grid flexibility marketplace. Prior to Piclo, James spent 3 years researching microgrids at University of Strathclyde. James is also the founder of Solar Sketch, a design company for the solar industry and worked at international engineering firm Arup. James is a published author contributing chapters to Academic Press books on peer-to-peer energy and local flexibility trading.
    • Matthias Martensen (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/matthiasmartensen.jpg
    • CEO
    • Ostrom
    • https://www.ostrom.de/?lang=en
    • Matthias is one of the co-founders and the CEO of Ostrom, which is building the leading B2C energy management platform in Europe. He has over 6 years of experience in energy trading, operations and strategy, most recently with the global consulting firm Oliver Wyman. He specialized in digitization and analytics in the energy industry, leading to his decision to found Ostrom. Matthias holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from WHU and a Master’s degree from UCL.
    • Polina Vasilenko (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/polinavasilenko.jpg
    • CEO
    • HelioRec
    • https://www.heliorec.com
    • Polina is a passionate environmental entrepreneur, with two Master’s degrees in Chemistry and Renewable Energy (Ocean) and active as a mentor in Women in Tech. As an active traveler (68 countries) and scuba-diver (100 m), Polina saw many beautiful places ruined by negative anthropogenic impacts, and based on her personal experience and internal feelings, she decided to change her career’s path from the “black” side of fossil fuel to the “green” side of renewable energy. After a successful 14-year career in the oil and gas industry (ex-Schlumberger), Polina decided to make a fundamental career change and do something useful for the planet. Both her training and vast working experience led her to found HelioRec. HelioRec is an innovative startup in the field of floating solar technologies. Polina is a Techstars Alumni and received Ocean Tribute Award and the Women in GreenTech Award.
    • Alejandro Cabrera Muñoz (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/alejandrocabreramunoz.jpg
    • CEO
    • Green Eagle Solutions
    • https://greeneaglesolutions.com
    • Alejandro Cabrera Muñoz is Co-founder and CEO of Green Eagle Solutions, an international and rapidly growing tech company that offers software solutions to the renewable energy sector. Alejandro is an IT engineer who started his career in the renewable industry more than 15 years ago. With a forward-thinking and challenger spirit, he founded Green Eagle Solutions to revolutionize the way renewable energies are operated. Alejandro and his team have demonstrated the potential of Robotic Process Automation to make renewables more scalable and speed up the transition to a more sustainable energy system.
    • Dr. Abdelkrim Benamar (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/abdelkrimbenamar.jpg
    • CEO
    • PowerUp
    • https://powerup-technology.com/en/
    • Dr. Abdelkrim Benamar is the President & CEO of PowerUp and joined the company in November 2021 to drive the next phase of its development. Before joining PowerUp, he served since May 2018 as Vice President – Service Assurance, Systems and Services of EXFO where he was responsible for the overall product and services portfolio for telecommunication network monitoring and analytics. He took this position as the result of the acquisition by EXFO of Astellia where Dr. Benamar successively held the positions of COO (July 2015) and CEO (June 2016). He previously held several executive roles at Alcatel-Lucent including Vice President EMEA, CEO Alcatel-Lucent International, and Vice President Global Head of Financial Analysis and Risk Assessment. He has also worked for leading telecom companies such as Ericsson Group (2000–2007), Motorola (1996–2000) and Alcatel Mobile Phones (1993-1996), in areas such as R&D, Communications & Public Affairs, Strategy and Sales. Mr. Benamar holds an engineering degree from Telecom SudParis (France) and a PhD in electrical engineering from Université Paris-Saclay (France).
    • Matthias Karger (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/matthiaskarger.jpg
    • CEO
    • Node.energy
    • https://www.node.energy
    • Matthias Karger is the Founder and CEO of Node.energy, based in Frankfurt am Main. Matthias is one of the thought leaders in the energy industry. In 2010, he co-founded Terajoule Energy GmbH, which later became Clean Energy Sourcing AG (CLENS) – one of the leading European companies for the marketing of electricity from renewable energies. At CLENS, as Director Business Development and Managing Director of several subsidiaries, he was responsible for an annual turnover of more than €150M as well as the development and operation of one of the world’s first and largest virtual power plants for the marketing of electricity and flexibility from decentralized power plants. At the end of 2016, he founded Node.energy GmbH to enable companies to switch to renewable energies. As Managing Director, he is responsible for strategy, human resources and finance. Matthias holds a degree in Business Administration and studied at the University of Cologne, the University of St. Gallen (HSG, Switzerland) and the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB, USA). In his life before the energy industry, Matthias was a player in the German national beach volleyball team and is still a passionate athlete.
    • Ulf Stenerhag (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/ulfstenerhag.jpg
    • CEO
    • Wayout
    • https://wayout.com
    • Ulf has 25 years of experience in leading multinational industrial organizations. Clients include Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Novo Nordisk, Lundbeck and Fermion. In 2019, Ulf sold his company since 20 years, Thurne Teknik, to Addtech, a public company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. He is educated at The Royal Institute of Technology with a MSc degree within Engineering and Business Management. Ulf has a passion for music in all forms and outdoor activities such as high altitude hiking, fly fishing and skiing. Ulf has over the last 15 years been engaged in several NGOs and organizations and in panels for intergovernmental exchange. Since 2018 founder and CEO of Wayout, a revolutionizing innovation company that solves multiple challenges around the supply of safe drinking water. Ulf also founded the charity organization Not For Sale Beers and is a co-founder of African Bureau of Music.
    • Carsten Brinkschulte (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/carstenbrinkschulte.jpg
    • CEO
    • Dryad Networks
    • https://www.dryad.net
    • Telecoms tech veteran and serial entrepreneur Carsten Brinkschulte is Co-Founder and CEO of impact tech startup Dryad Networks. The firm’s large-scale IoT network for the ultra-early detection of wildfires will help to save the world’s forests and fight climate change. Carsten’s 20 years in mobile network infrastructure includes three successful exits: Core Network Dynamics (acquired by Twilio), Movirtu (acquired by Blackberry) and Synchronica (acquired by DAT Group).
    • Nicholas Simmons (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/nicholassimmons.jpg
    • CFO
    • Naked Energy
    • https://www.nakedenergy.co.uk
    • Nick is a chartered accountant with a track record of building high-growth international businesses. He started his career at Arthur Andersen in London and Geneva and went on to work with businesses operating in entertainment, media, travel and retail. He was part of the team that successfully launched Yahoo! Europe. Passionate about sustainability and startups he co-founded Naked Energy to address the urgent need for the provision of clean and affordable heat in the built environment.
    • Jewgeni Elster (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/jewgenielster.jpg
    • CFO
    • HPS Home Power Solutions
    • https://www.homepowersolutions.de/en/
    • Jewgeni Elster is the CFO of HPS Home Power Solutions. He has more than ten years of relevant management experience in the financial sector of various energy companies. Before HPS, Jewgeni was CFO at Saferay Holding, a photovoltaic company. He was CFO for several years at Dornier Consulting International GmbH in Berlin, an international consulting company of the Airbus Group for mobility, environment and infrastructure. Leading energy trading and risk management position preceded this at Vattenfall in Hamburg. The business administration graduate and Energy Management MBA holder started his professional career in 2006 at the corporate consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers in Frankfurt and Berlin, followed by senior positions in risk management at HSH Nordbank AG, Hamburg, an international financing specialist in the field of renewable energies, transportation and real estate.
    • Johannes Burgard (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/johannesburgard.jpg
    • CEO
    • Solytic
    • https://www.solytic.com
    • Johannes is Founder and CEO at Solytic, a cleantech software company from Germany. He is responsible for business strategy, finance, operations and data analytics. Prior to founding Solytic, Johannes worked as project engineer in international corporations like CLAAS (manufacturer, agriculture) and Airbus (manufacturer, aerospace), being responsible for global automation projects in production environment and supply chain management. Before starting his corporate career, he worked as a researcher in production technologies at the RWTH Aachen University. Johannes holds an MBA from Esade Business School and a Dipl.-Ing. (MSc) in Mechanical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University.
    • Erwin van Laethem (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/erwinvanlaethem.jpg
    • CCO
    • Scone
    • https://scone.ai
    • Erwin van Laethem heads the business/partnership development activities at Scone.ai. This fast growing climate tech venture leverages demand management, behavioural science and artificial intelligence to carve a personalised #PathToZero. Prior to Scone.ai Erwin held several international CEO/CCO/CDO positions in the field of energy transition, where he led digital transformation, developed disruptive climate tech business models and established innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, Berlin, London & Tel Aviv. Erwin believes that collective human and machine intelligence stands the best chance to address the climate challenge humanity faces, and that collaborative ecosystems are the norm. Erwin is an Electrical & Electronics Engineer, holds an MBA Marketing/Finance & Risk, did fundamental research in Medical Imaging, and recently completed a post graduate in applied ML/AI. He lives in NL, has two daughters, and loves spending time in/on the ocean. As a volunteer Erwin actively supports several sustainability and vitality in society programmes.
    • Dr. Anselma Wörner (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/anselmawoerner.jpg
    • COO
    • Exnaton
    • https://www.exnaton.com
    • Anselma Wörner is Co-Founder and COO at Exnaton where she is in charge of fundraising as well as of Exnaton’s matching and pricing algorithms. In 2020, Anselma graduated with a PhD from one of Europe’s most renowned universities, ETH Zurich, and was awarded the ETH Medal for her research on market mechanisms in the energy sector. In the same year, she co-founded the startup Exnaton with her two fellow PhD colleagues and was listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. In 2021, the startup received venture capital from Germany’s largest VC and they have won numerous awards for their product. Among others, the following media has covered Anselma, her two co-founders and their climate tech startup Exnaton: SRF, Women in Business, Handelszeitung, VSE, startupticker.
    • Dr. Thomas Hartmann (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/thomashartmann.jpg
    • Head of Software Engineering
    • DataThings
    • https://datathings.com
    • Thomas is Co-Founder and Head of Software Engineering at DataThings. He holds a PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Luxembourg/SnT where he studied software systems to support the transition of electricity grids towards smarter operations, in the context of an industrial partnership program. Now, with more than 8 years working experience on this subject, he is product leader at DataThings for the development of Alva, an AI Twin for smart electricity grids, developed to help DSOs to harness the power of AI to support the grid operations of tomorrow. Empowered by the Greycat DataThings’ technology, it leverages smart meter data to learn and enable predictions and simulations closer to reality than statistical approaches.
    • 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.
    • Dr. Wilhelm Stein (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/wilhelmstein.jpg
    • CEO
    • Sunmaxx PVT
    • https://sunmaxx-pvt.com/en/
    • Wilhelm is the founder and driving force behind Sunmaxx PVT. Within just two years, he gathered a visionary team to develop a business which is now set for exponential growth as it moves its unique hybrid solar module technology into mass production. Sunmaxx photovoltaic thermal modules combine automotive thermal management expertise with photovoltaic technology, and can thus provide electricity and heat simultaneously. Wilhelm has more than 20 years of experience in the solar and semiconductor industries, having worked with industry leaders such as Meyer Burger, 3D-Micromac, Oxford PV, Von Ardenne, Oerlikon and Osram OptoSemiconductor. He is a seasoned executive with a proven track record in managing large organisations, establishing new businesses, and driving new product developments, including installing and ramping up large production lines as well as negotiating complex supplier agreements. Wilhelm has a master’s degree in Physics and completed his PhD in Material Science at the Max-Planck-Institute in Stuttgart. He holds more than 90 patents and has won several prizes for his work, such as the Solar Industry Award 2013.
    • Dr. Arthur Singer (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/arthursinger.jpg
    • CEO
    • Stabl Energy
    • https://stabl.com/en/
    • Arthur Singer is the co-founder and CEO of startup Stabl. Together with Dr. Nam Truong, Martin Sprehe, and Christoph Dietrich, he launched Stabl in 2019 with the mission of making battery storage systems more flexible, more efficient and more sustainable. With its Energy-Storage-as-a-Service offering STABL removes the risk of buying and operating battery storage systems for companies and investors. Based on Stabl’s proprietary power electronics and control algorithms, it provides stationary storage systems built upon of second life batteries (batteries previously used in another application such as electric vehicles). Arthur holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA. He is an active advocate of efficient and elegant solutions in energy systems – with an emphasis on circular and sustainable solutions. At Stabl, Arthur is driving the company’s development of its breakthrough software-defined Battery Storage Technology, working closely with early customers to enable battery re-use.
    • Dr. Nikita Uzhegov (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/nikitauzhegov.jpg
    • COO
    • SpinDrive
    • https://spindrive.fi
    • Nikita is a COO and co-founder of the Finnish cleantech startup SpinDrive. Following his passion for making the research results in energy efficiency applicable to everyone he co-founded SpinDrive. SpinDrive’s mission is to democratize levitation in industrial applications using active magnetic bearings (AMBs). Magnetic bearings are levitating rotating parts of electric motors and work similarly to Maglev trains. AMBs increase electric motor-driven system efficiency by at least 10% and provide 20-year maintenance-free and oil-free operation. They are used in industrial turbomachines, which can be found in almost every factory worldwide. Nikita holds a doctoral degree in electrical engineering in the field of high-speed machinery. He is among other awards US Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative (YTILI) Fellow and received Jorma Luomi prize at International Conference on Electrical Machines. As SpinDrive COO he is responsible for strategy implementation, business development, sales and investor relations. Nikita led SpinDrive efforts to attract €4M of public and private funding and bring 4 multibillion customers. SpinDrive’s mission is to democratize levitation to mitigate above 0.6 gt of CO2 emissions annually by 2050.
    • Dr. Lennard Wilkening (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/lennardwilkening.jpg
    • CEO
    • Suena
    • https://www.suena.energy
    • Dr. Lennard Wilkening, an esteemed professional in the electrical energy sector, has over eight years of experience working at the forefront of the industry. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Power Systems and has earned a PhD in the optimization of grid-scale battery energy storage systems. His research experience includes a tenure at the prestigious Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In 2021, Dr. Wilkening, along with two other innovative co-founders, established Suena GmbH, where he now serves as the CEO. Suena is a pioneering startup that supports grid-scale energy storage asset owners in maximizing their profits and minimizing risks within short-term electricity and balancing markets. Under Dr. Wilkening’s guidance, Suena has developed advanced AI-driven optimization and trading software solutions, facilitating a more efficient and sustainable energy future.
    • Dr. Ruben Hünig (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/rubenhuenig.jpg
    • Co-CEO
    • Phytonics
    • https://www.phytonics.tech
    • In 2011, Ruben Hünig started with his research in the field of photovoltaics. He did his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany about how to efficiently capture light in solar cells by applying concepts from the plant kingdom. In 2021, after three years of industry related R&D at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) he came back to KIT and founded the spin-off Phytonics to commercialize a novel bio-inspired coating for solar modules. With the Phytonics coating, PV panels generate up to 10 % more power per year plus they are absolute glare-free, enabling PV power generation in many sensitive areas. Ruben Hünig is the Co-CEO of Phytonics, a company based in southern Germany with 10 employees and a market entry targeted for 2023.
    • Jannik Bounin (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/jannikbounin.jpg
    • CEO
    • Voltaro
    • https://www.voltaro.de
    • Jannik Bounin is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Voltaro, a startup that simplifies access to roof-top solar and clean energy for commercial real estate, companies and installers through its solar-as-a-service platform. Prior to Voltaro, Jannik played a crucial role in building the 2nd largest renewable YieldCo on the German stock market for Pacifico (now Tion Renewables). As a scholar of the German National Academic Foundation he holds degrees in Physics and Econophysics and has contributed to the fields of climate science and machine learning.
    • Stephan von Wolff (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/stephanvonwolff.jpg
    • COO
    • Swobbee
    • https://swobbee.de/en/
    • Stephan joined Swobbee as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2022. He brings with him over five years of experience in laser micro-manufacturing, where he served as the Managing Director of Class 4 Laser, a Swiss start-up that specialized in developing laser systems for turbine refurbishment and micromachining. In 2019, he co-founded TLD Photonics, a university spin-off of FHNW University, which develops laser sources and optics for machining, high-speed 3D measurement, and diagnostics. Stephan holds an MSc. in Mechanical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University and an MSc. in Manufacturing Consultancy from Cranfield University. He is of German-South African origin. About Swobbee: Swobbee is a leading provider of intelligent battery swapping solutions for light electric vehicles (LEVs).The company’s mission is to make LEV recharging simple, fast, and accessible to everyone.
    • Michael Svensson (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/michaelsvensson.jpg
    • CEO
    • BladeRobots
    • https://bladerobots.com
    • Michael Svensson joined BladeRobots in January 2023 as CEO. BladeRobots is a spinout of Vestas providing automated leading edge maintenance for wind turbine blades. Michael has a long history in the wind industry as well as with starting new companies within the wind business. He is driven by the startup mentality and being a part of accelerated growth in the business. Michael has previously worked in R&D in senior positions at Vestas and later in Operations inside Orsted. Latest, he has worked in the wind turbine service business where he has built up two companies from scratch. Michael has Bachelor degree in Electronics.
    • Andreas Eberhardt (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/andreaseberhardt.jpg
    • Co-CEO
    • Pionierkraft
    • https://pionierkraft.de
    • Andreas is cofounder and Co-CEO of Pionierkraft. Pionierkraft is the first provider to enable 84% of Germany’s apartment building stock for beneficial and shared use of sustainable solar energy. With more than 300 sharing solutions already installed, the Forbes 30 Under 30 listed founders aim to establish the market-leading position in the area of small apartment buildings. While studying electrical engineering in Munich and California and working in the field of solar power solutions Andreas recognized the lack of a sustainable energy sharing solution and the incredible potential it could offer. Striving to make a real contribution to the energy revolution and to make renewable and affordable energy accessible to all people has been the driving force behind him and his co-founder ever since.
    • Serge Subiron (Startup)
    • https://ecosummit.net/uploads/sergesubiron.jpg
    • CEO
    • Jedlix
    • https://jedlix.com/en/
    • Serge is the CEO of Jedlix, the leading smart charging platform connecting Electric Vehicles to the energy markets, through direct integration with OEMs such as Tesla, Renault and BMW. Based in the Netherlands, Jedlix contributes to set smart charging over-the-air as the default charging mode of EVs at scale. Jedlix works with OEMs, CPOs, utilities and grid operators in Europe to unlock the value of the EVs charging flexibility for their sustainable integration into the grid and optimize their total cost of ownership. Serge is a pioneer entrepreneur in mobility, IoT and smart grid for the past 10 years, and also served as VP of the France Smart Grid Association, ThinkSmartGrids. Prior to that, Serge has managed a number of business units and regional P&Ls for telecom groups such as Cisco, Alcatel Lucent in Europe and Asia for more than 20 years, delivering double digit growth and conducting new ecosystems development and business model transformation. He holds a Business degree and drives an electric train.