Our first speakers 2023

In my current role as a senior IT professional, I am responsible for preparing AI-based applications for production, ensuring their reliability, scalability, maintainability, and adaptability to evolving business needs. Previously, I worked on numerous enterprise-level Natural Language Processing projects across various industries. I have accumulated over 5 years of hands-on experience in designing and developing high-performance machine learning and deep learning neural network systems.

Daniel Angloher is an AI expert and founder with experience in developing innovative solutions around the healthcare sector. He is currently Deputy Managing Director and AI Lead at Caire, an AI start-up at the Technical University of Munich. In this role, he accompanies new AI healthcare applications from conception, through medical validation, to approval and patient use.

• 2013–2019 Research Assistant, RWTH Aachen University - Analysis of data measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory, Software Development in the VISPA project
• 2019–2021 Data Scientist, LANXESS - Machine learning platform for the development of chemical products
• Since 2021 Senior Data Scientist, LANXESS - Leading the in-house development of the LANXESS data integration and analytics platform

With a background in AI research, Jupiter advise Alteryx strategic customer on how to democratize generative AI while derisking it.

Imke Bewersdorf works as a Product Owner and UX Consultant at Big Picture. She supports clients from various industries from the conception to the implementation of projects. With her background in Cognitive Science and Human Factors, she focuses on an outstanding user experience for every interface.

Stanislav Bondarenko is the founder of Swifty, the first autonomous AI assistant in the travel industry. He is part of the Founder in Residence program at Lufthansa Innovation Hub. 

Previously, he was Strategy & Operations Lead at GetYourGuide, a travel-tech unicorn. Before his journey in the travel industry, he worked as a Management Consultant at BCG and gained first founding experience from idea to product-market fit validation.

Dr Maria Börner works for Westernacher Solutions in Business Development AI and is an expert in the field of AI, bias in AI and Legal Tech. She is responsible for the development of AI tools in the government, church and legal sectors. She focuses on the issue of bias in AI and is also privately involved as the Berlin City Lead for the Women in AI network to raise the visibility of women in tech. 

Maria has previously worked in various start-ups and led several projects in the field of federated learning, AI and ML for Porsche, Daimler and PwC.

Franziska Brecht is the Chief Data Scientist and Head of Division "Data Lab, Open Data, and Digital Strategy for the Ministry” at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in Berlin, Germany. She also serves as Open Data Coordinator. In her role, she and her Data Lab team enable the collection, analysis, interpretation, and utilization of data to inform decision-making, policy formulation, and program implementation at the Ministry. Before joining the public sector, Franziska Brecht held various positions in the private sector. She worked as a Principal Data & AI at the Bundesdruckerei in Berlin and as a Vehicle Data Scientist and Cybersecurity Program Manager at General Motors Company in Detroit, USA. She studied Information Systems in Berlin, and Economics and Econometrics in Strasbourg and Madrid.

Joanna Bryson is expert in intelligence — both natural and artificial. With degrees in Social and Computer Sciences from Chicago, Edinburgh and MIT, her scientific research appears in venues from reddit to Science, and her policy voice is heard in the UN, EU, CoE, OSCE, OECD and GPAI.

Agostino is a Senior Data Scientist at Shopify who has a background in ecommerce and fintech. While now working for a pioneer in ecommerce, he previously worked for N26 while the company went from a small start-up to one of Germany's biggest banks. During his time in both companies he focused on data insights, machine learning modelling and deployments according do best MLOps practices.

Torsten has been employed as AI Development Manager in the AI Factory division of Deutsche Bahn AG since 2022. There, he is responsible for AI projects in rail operations, which are implemented in collaboration with the business units. Previously, he held various positions at T-Systems International GmbH, including Senior Product Manager and Product Owner BigData & AI for AI services on a public cloud.

Philipp Drieger works as a Global Principal Machine Learning Architect at Splunk. He accompanies Splunk customers and partners across various industries in their digital journeys, helping to achieve advanced AI use cases in cybersecurity, IT operations, IoT and business analytics. Before joining Splunk, Philipp worked as freelance software developer and consultant focussing on high performance 3D graphics and visual computing technologies. In research, he has published papers on text mining and semantic network analysis.

Linda Flath has been with herCAREER, the comprehensive platform for female careers, from the very beginning. She has also previously worked in trade fair management, including as a project manager at spring Messe Management GmbH ("Arbeitswelt der Zukunft"), where she was responsible for planning and operational implementation of HR trade fairs and congresses, further development of the trade fair concept, support for partners and much more. At herCAREER, she helped to develop and implement the new trade fair concept together with GF Natascha Hoffner. After a professional "excursion" of almost two years in another industry, she rejoined herCAREER. First as Director and since November 2021 as COO.
She likes to keep in touch with her friends in the USA and here in Germany. In general, she is a very sociable person with a great passion for her job.

Dr. Arne Gausepohl is managing director within the OHB Group - one of the most successful space and technology companies in Europe. He is responsible for business development in the OHB DIGITAL segment. This unit within OHB focuses on innovative, satellite data-based data services and digital products. The aim is to make space knowledge and data accessible to all relevant industries and to contribute to the efficient solution of challenges in these industries. 

At the German Offshore Spaceport Alliance GmbH (GOSA), he also serves as managing director. The aim of the initiative is to create an efficient launch facility for small launch vehicles with a floating launch platform in the North Sea. 

Previously, Dr. Arne Gausepohl worked for Telefónica Deutschland, where he and his teams were responsible for several brands in the partner management unit. In his career to date, he has focused on strategy and sales topics as well as the digitization of business models in various industries. 

Dr. Arne Gausepohl studied business administration at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, ESSEC in Paris and the University of Gothenburg. He received his PhD in sales management from the chair of Prof. Dr. Ove Jensen at WHU.

Working at the world's most legendary and challenging race track for 16 years. As Head of Communications, responsible for all PR & social media communication as well as the entire marketing of the Nürburgring.

Tabea Glindemann is an Intelligence Architect at Birds on Mars, where she enables organizations to realize the potential of data and AI. Previously, she worked as a data scientist in the ad tech industry before turning her back on Big Data algorithms to focus on sustainable and impactful ways to use technology. Alongside her professional career, she is interested and dedicated to data privacy, empowerment, and digital ethics, as well as an active member of the Berlin-based feminist hackspace Heart of Code.

Alexa is Senior Vice President of SAP.iO, responsible for SAP’s early-stage startup acceleration and scaling globally across 11 locations. SAP.iO’s mission is to turn innovative startups into SAP partners in order to deliver value for SAP customers. Until end of 2022, 530 startups have successfully completed one of SAP iO’s many programs. 

Alexa has 20+ years of experience in the tech industry around the world in many functions such as business development, strategy, marketing and open innovation.

- Studies in economics and business administration 

- PhD in economics at the University of Münster 

- Since 2015, employed at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Since then various responsibilities including the projection of Germany's economic development, economic policy analysis and the "EU-MERCOSUR Trade Agreement". Since the middle of the year, member of the "Coordination office for Regulatory Sandboxes" at the ministry, which is in charge within the Federal Government of all tasks regarding Regulatory Sandboxes at national and European level.

• +13 years of experience in different functions (executive management, program management, key account management) within high tech, software, automation and management consulting: from start-up to global player.
• Current role as Strategic Innovation Manager for AIoT projects of our global key accounts. These projects include large transformation projects, manufacturing excellence, IoT/ IIoT, Big Data as well as OT-IT Convergence. In his current role, Tobias brings together Bosch's inside-out expertise with customers' outside-in needs and desires, analyzing, designing and implementing relevant innovations and large-scale programs
• Completed projects in over 40 countries -

Julia Gschwendtner has an academic background in mathematics and currently works as a business analyst in the AI/ML team at Allianz Kunde und Markt GmbH. She supervises Use Cases that employ machine learning methods across different verticals at Allianz. She is a maintainer and developer of a customized platform for data scientists at Allianz, offering a variety of tools to manage the whole data science lifecycle. Her general interests are statistical modeling, data analytics and psychometrics.

Business Developer Media Engineering - Cognitive Business Optimization & Smart Coding and Learning
(previously) Resarch Assistant AI Strategy Development

Studied Business Information Systems and Economics

Claire is leading Generative AI for Enterprise in the DACH region at Nvidia. Her role is to facilitate adoption of AI across organizations working closely with Nvidia partner ecosystem, as well as advising on accelerated computing. In the past years, she worked on multiple ML and AI projects as well as strategic partnerships in banking and insurance, and gained insights on best practices and pitfalls. 

Prior to this, she dedicated most of her career in information technology and network infrastructure for the financial industry across Europe, among others at Orange Business and Colt Technology. Claire first studied foreign languages at Nantes university and holds a Master's degree in International Affairs and Finance from Grenoble university. 

She lives in Berlin with her three children and spends most of her free time on her bike(s).

Since my Masters in Digital Management I was interested in machine learning models. My initial undertakings involved the development of sentiment analysis tools for social media, leveraging ML Language Models, a venture I personally engineered. Subsequently, I have channeled my expertise and passion into my current role at Senacor, where I have served as an IT consultant for the past two years, with a specific emphasis on the domains of Artificial Intelligence and e-commerce.

Wolfgang Hildesheim studied high-energy physics, worked at CERN and DESY, and then served as executive vice president for global sales and marketing for a family-owned company in the field of Big Data and Communication Intelligence. In 2007, he joined IBM Technology, where he was first responsible for the Automotive, Aerospace and High-Tech Practice and then for the Big Data Industry Solution Business in Europe. Since 2012, he has been responsible for building and growing IBM's Watson, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence business in Europe in with a focus on DACH. Wolfgang Hildesheim regularly speaks at conferences, publishes on the topic of AI and is a member of national AI commissions, as well as on the board of the AK KI at Bitkom.

Nico Kelling has headed the Corporate Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence at Infineon Technologies since 2020 and is committed to the responsible and value-oriented use of AI, developing it in line with the European understanding of value for the benefit of people and society. Active shaping of the digital transformation and innovation are of particular concern to him. He has over twenty-five years of international semiconductor industry experience in various technical, marketing and management roles in Europe, USA and Japan and particularly in the areas of microcontrollers, embedded systems and automotive applications.

Markus founded his first software company 1999 and has been building tools and various open source frameworks for professional Java and database developers for more than 20 years. Markus is CEO and co-founder of MicroStream, the company behind the Eclipse open-source projects EclipseStore, Eclipse Serializer, and the Low-Code platform RapidClipse. He is also the editor-in-chief for the JAVAPRO magazine, the founder and co-organizer of the Java conference series JCON.ONE. He is an independent editor for several magazines, and a speaker at numerous international developer conferences, user groups, and meetups.

Dr. Nicole Kontor works as Senior Manager in Accenture‘s data and AI network. Her industry focus is on travel and transportation with special emphasis on the rail industry. 

During her time as a researcher and Senior Manager, she has gained extensive experience in scaling data and AI solutions across organizations. In this regard, she is especially excited about leveraging data to achieve business goals like sustainability.

Jana-Constanze Krahforst is Vice President of fraud0 GmbH in Munich. She studied law at the University of Passau. 

After the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, she helped to establish the Munich-based software company Usercentrics, today's market-leading Consent Management Platform (CMP), and headed the legal department. Since early 2022, she has been building the SaaS cybersecurity startup, fraud0, as part of the founding team. She specialises in the areas of data protection, IT law, cybersecurity and AI.

Antonio Krüger is CEO and scientific director of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH (DFKI) and head of the department “Cognitive Assistants” at DFKI. He is a full professor for Computer Science at Saarland University (since 2009), Head of the Ubiquitous Media Technology Lab and scientific director of the Innovative Retail Laboratory (IRL) at DFKI. Prof. Krueger is an internationally renowned expert on Man-Machine-Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. In 2010 he has established the Mediainformatics study programme at the Saarland University and directs it to this day. Antonio is a co-founder of the Saarbrücken-based technology company Eyeled GmbH, which focuses on the development of mobile and ubiquitous information systems. Many of his research findings have found their way into applications in retail and other industrial domains. From 2004 to 2009 he was a professor of computer science and geoinformatics at the University of Münster and acted as the managing director of the institute for geoinformatics. He studied Computer Science and Economics at Saarland University and finished his Ph.D in 1999 as a member of the Saarbrücken graduate school of „Cognitive Science“. Antonio has published more than 200 scientific articles and papers in internationally recognized journals and conferences and is member of several steering committees, editorial boards and scientific advisory committees.

Marion is Head of Decision Science in IT-Pharma, where her and her team‘s responsibility is to implement Data Science/Artificial Intelligence solutions for and alongside with the entities of the Pharma business. Marion holds her PhD in Economics where she started her career quantifying the macroeconomic footprint of the health care industry and its effects on financial equalisation schemes to support political decision making, working as a Researcher for the WifOR Institute. Before joining Bayer in June 2020, she worked as a Data Scientist at the Deloitte Analytics Institute, where she broadened both her methodological as well as her industry expertise in the Life Science & Health Care area. Until end of 2022, Marion was Head of ""Decision Science for Medical Affairs, Pharmacovigilance and Regulatory Affairs"" at Bayer before she took over managing the whole Decision Science Pharma organisation. Today, the organisation of Decision Science in Pharma hosts a diverse skill set of Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers with technical focus areas such as Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Sound & Signal Processing, Optimization, Simulation, Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning Engineering.

Marc Leonhardt works as Senior Data Scientist at Commerzbank's division Big Data & Advanced Analytics (BDAA). His main focus is on natural language processing applications and generative AI. At BDAA, he is also involved in developing and evaluating the strategic direction for the use of Machine Learning and AI. Before, he worked as financial data scientist at the Deutsche Bundesbank where he was data science group lead in the Central Office Statistics. 

Marc has a background in theoretical physics and completed his PhD in theoretical high-energy physics at TU Darmstadt. As a research associate in computational neuroscience, he also worked previously on the simulation of neural networks at the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research.

Jacqueline Liu is a Munich-based Insurance executive at Allianz with 10+ years of international work experience. As the Generative AI Solutions Lead, she develops and applies Generative AI solutions to drive high-impact business use cases across Allianz's global operations. Prior to this, she led a cross-functional Machine Learning solutions development team and held various roles in pricing, risk management, and financial steering. Jacqueline holds a Master of Science from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and is a professional qualified Actuary (Fellow of Institute of Actuaries, UK).

• Studied electrical engineering at TU Berlin (Bachelor and Master with focus on AI and data processing).
• Started at DB in the House of AI as a student: Execution of a POC to predict wheel wear on ICEs
• Currently: AI Specialist in the AI Factory in the AI in Dispatching project

Andreas Mäder is the head of AI/ML at Nokia Standards, where he is responsible for the AI/ML standardization research strategy for mobile networks. With 20 years of experience in the telco industry and academia, he is fascinated by the transformative powers of AI/ML that drive the industry towards data-driven mobile networks.

My studies in Mechatronic laid the foundation for my knowledge. While working in the medical field, I was able to further expand my knowledge as I supervised clinical studies, developed new mechatronic sensors, and implemented holistic software solutions. In addition, I was able to intensively deal with Data Science and Machine Learning and even design a Machine Learning method myself. Through these experiences, I understand very well how to put a product's vision into practice and which of my many technical skills are needed here. I recently used this knowledge to start my own company. I can now apply the knowledge I have gained as a senior consultant in the field of IT with a focus on ML.

Klaas Mertens joined Equinix in 2014 as a Global Solutions Architect, advising customers and prospects on solutions and services related to the various digital ecosystems at Equinix. Prior to joining Equinix, Klaas was responsible for designing worldwide networks and related IT services for several global network providers. Today, he focuses on the requirements of IoT systems, Big Data & AI, mobility solutions with a special focus on Data Gravity and Data Marketplaces.

Ramin is responsible for the Customer Journey and GoToMarket of Aleph Alpha. His mission is to enable customers and partners globally to leverage the capabilities of generative AI for their sustainable growth and competitive advantage. Before Ramin joined Aleph Alpha he had leading positions at IBM, SAP and Google across the globe.

Daniele leads the Web Application Firewall product team at Cloudflare where he launched a number of products in the web security and API protection space. Before joining Cloudflare, he developed new technologies and products for Nokia Siemens Networks and for the Oil&Gas sector. In the past he was also an investor for a Venture Capital fund focussed on intelligent systems. Daniele holds a PhD in Signal Processing, and an MBA from the London Business School.

Philipp Müller-Peltzer is a lawyer and partner at the technology law firm Schürmann Rosenthal Dreyer Rechtsanwälte and specialises in data protection, IT law and digital business. 

He advises clients on the legally compliant implementation and conceptualisation of digital business models. One focus of his work is the assessment and elaboration of data processing operations in a regulated environment, most recently specialising in the data protection law design of AI and advanced analytics applications. 

He has many years of experience in DSGVO compliance projects and also accompanies digitalisation projects in IT contractual issues. Clients from the banking, financial services and insurance industries, automotive and vehicle manufacturing, media and information technology as well as marketing and ad-tech trust his legal expertise and technical understanding. 

Philipp Müller-Peltzer has been a partner at the firm since 2022 and is recommended several times by The Legal500 and Wirtschaftswoche (Best Lawyers) in the areas of data protection law and intellectual property law.

Maren Pielka has been a Data Scientist at Fraunhofer IAIS since 2020, and took over as head of the "Cognitive Text Analytics" team in 2022. She focuses on text analysis methods to simplify time-consuming processes (e.g., searching through long documents). She has a master's degree in computer science, and plans to follow it up with a PhD.

Srinivas Poosarla is Senior VP and Chief Privacy Officer at Infosys, based in Bangalore, responsible for ensuring Infosys’ compliance to Data Protection Regulations, in over 30+ countries including various EU countries and to drive Privacy by design initiatives. In addition to the current role for 13 years now, he has been playing active role in privacy initiatives both in India and international forum. He is a designated expert in the Data Privacy working group of ISO’s SC27 committee, representing India, involved as one of the key players in shaping up standards on data privacy. He plays similar role in IEEE Standards committee. 

Srinivas is a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Post Graduate in Cyber law from National Law School, India and is an IAPP (International Institute of Privacy Professionals) designated FIP (Fellow of Information Privacy) and holds several privacy certifications such as CIPP/US, CIPP/Europe, CIPT, CIPM, CIPP/A, DCPP, DCPLA.

Jens Redmer is Principal for New Products at Google. Jens joined Google in 2005 and was previously responsible for New Business Development for Google's efforts in Europe. Before that, Jens was heading up the Google Book Search Programme in EMEA. 

Jens began his career with German publishing group Axel Springer in Hamburg. In the period 1995-98 he played a key role in establishing Springer's first new media operations before becoming regional Managing Director for the group's nascent internet service provider, a joint venture with fellow publishing houses Bertelsmann and WAZ. 

Between 1998 and 2001, Jens was Board Member of publicly listed ricardo.de, the then-premier European online auction service which was bought out by qxl.com in 2000. He ran Premium/ Paid Services for internet service provider AOL in Germany between 2001 and 2004 and joined Google from Endemol Germany, the world's largest independent television producer, where he was director of multimedia between 2004 and 2005.

 Jens holds a degree in computer science/ medicine from Kiel University. He is a member of the Supervisory Board at PON Holdings, the Netherlands based mobility conglomerate and exclusive importer for Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi and a member of the scientific board at the think tank “Frankfurter Zukunftsrat”.

André Reichow-Prehn is a managing partner for Central Europe at Unit 42. His expertise ranges from communication interception, exploits, digital forensics to cybersecurity architecture with a focus on military and government systems and he has held national and international public presentations with the topics innovative network security, zero-day-exploits, and cyber warfare. 

Prior to joining Unit 42, André was a cybersecurity consulting partner at EY, where he focused on industrial cybersecurity. 

He was formerly the head of cybersecurity programs at Rheinmetall Electronics GmbH, where he worked on the business development of Rheinmetall’s cyber intelligence, cybersecurity, and cyber services portfolio. He worked in the defense industry for over seven years with a focus on large military and security projects mainly in the Middle East. 

Before his time in the defense industry, he worked many years as a director for a German TecDAX company specialized in semiconductor technology for renewable energies.

4x founder and innovation expert, studied pure mathematics and worked as management consultant and senior manager in the fintech industry

Graduated at Maastricht University with a Master of Science with a specialization in Business Intelligence & Data Management

Has been with Microsoft for 5 years and works with customers in the Chemical industry with focus on realizing their data use cases to drive value for these companies

Tatjana Samsonowa-Denef embodies the visionary behind AGENTS.inc, where she acts as CEO and co-founder. With passionate commitment, she drives business development and significantly shapes the strategic direction of the company. Before founding AGENTS.inc, Tatjana had already launched a successful consulting agency and an international research institute. 

Her career began at SAP, a global technology company, where she worked extensively on strategic relationships, innovation management and performance measurement. Tatjana earned a PhD in Information Science at the TU Darmstadt. Her dissertation was dedicated to the topic of innovation management. 

Tatjana Samsonowa-Denef's passion is the introduction of new technologies into the business environment, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. Her broad range of experience and diverse leadership positions reflect her ongoing commitment to improving research and innovation processes in industrial and academic contexts. She has established herself as an outstanding expert in the field and is instrumental in promoting excellence in research performance and innovation management.

Technology Lead and Manager for Strategic Products in PwC's Digital Core Products division. Developing Scalable and Global Solutions for Financial Services that use Natural Language Processing. Organizer of the PwC Tech Talk Meetup Series in Berlin. Academic background in Business Informatics and specialist in DevOps Engineering.

Stefan Schiffer works as Business Development Director at Fujitsu. Here he uses his many years of experience as a consultant in the industrial customer environment to create added value, based on new technologies and innovative approaches.

After graduating in mathematics from Leibniz University Hannover, Fritz began his career in the IT industry in 1991. During his tenure at Nixdorf, Siemens and Fujitsu, his focus was on compilers, CASE tools, web and portal technology, dynamic data center management, cloud platforms, big data solutions and quantum algorithms. Currently Fritz is heading a group of quantum consulting and programming experts transforming quantum technology into applicable solutions. Fritz has been recognized as Fujitsu Distinguished Engineer and one of the Fujitsu Fellows.

Greta Schnaack has been working as a Senior Research Consultant at Bitkom Research, a brand of Bitkom Servicegesellschaft mbH, since 2022. At Bitkom Research, Ms. Schnaack is involved in data collection, analysis, and communication related to the topic of digitalization. In addition to having methodological responsibility for the study “Insights from German Companies on AI”, she also leads other B2B and B2C projects for Bitkom e.V. as well as for clients outside the Bitkom Group. 

Prior to her current position, she worked in various digital companies and most recently worked as a Research Assistant alongside her master's studies in Economics at NOVA School of Business and Economics. Furthermore, she holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Sociology from Copenhagen Business School.

Kathrin Schürmann is a founding partner of the technology law firm Schürmann Rosenthal Dreyer Rechtsanwälte and specialises in IT, data protection and competition law. 

A particular focus of her work is advising companies from the digital business, technology and media sectors. 

In her function as a data protection expert, she mainly advises national and international clients on the introduction and development of new (digital) business models. She also advises companies on the development of big data concepts, AI-based technologies, mobile/online marketing, business intelligence concepts and legal support for new technologies. Due to many years of trustful cooperation with her clients, Kathrin Schürmann has in-depth industry knowledge in the areas of internet & e-commerce, pharma & health, loyalty, aviation, publishing or automotive. 

Kathrin Schürmann has been recommended several times by The Legal500, Wirtschaftswoche and kanzleimonitor in the areas of data protection, information technology as well as intellectual property law for her very good legal and technical understanding.

Studies in civil engineering

Doctorate in Civil Informatics

since 2016 at wattx as Data Scientist

Felix Schwyzer is a Senior Data Scientist at CrowdStrike where he leads a team of Data Scientists building innovative technology for detecting and preventing both malware-based and fileless cyber attacks. Before that, he was working as a threat researcher reverse-engineering complex malware.

Clemens Siebler currently helps clients to solve their business challenges using AI in his role as Senior Specialist for AI in EMEA at Microsoft. For the past two year, he has been pivoting the use of Azure OpenAI Service in enterprise environments. Prior to working in his current role, Clemens held various roles as e.g., Software Engineer, Solution Architect and technical manager. He studied Computer Science with a focus on Machine Learning and graduated from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology with research experience at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

I am a trained banker and mechanical engineer. In addition to various positions in the startup ecosystem, I have founded several companies in the past 6 years, including Seifenbrause, nemms and Kornelia. Currently I am leading the AI lighthouse project of the German government AI+MUNICH.

Lúí Smyth is Director of Product, Generative & AI Tooling at Shutterstock. Lúí leads the buildout of generative image tools, in-house data models, and the recently launched AI-powered design assistant. Bringing with him over 15 years of global leadership and product, R&D and media experience, Lúí has an academic background in languages and anthropology. He thinks humans rarely make sense unless they're understood through a cultural lens. He is based in Dublin, Ireland.

Alexander coordinates a team of data scientists at Deutsche Telekom. Together they work on different use cases and challenges with network data. Alexander has been with Deutsche Telekom since 2008 and has held various positions in automation, cloud and data processing.

Leonid Sokolov is the Senior Voice Interface Engineer of Big Picture in Berlin. 

At Big Picture he and his team build Natural Language User Interfaces from head to tail – backend, conversation design and dialogues. He has worked on projects in the Automobile, Telecommunications and Health industry – always with the goal of facilitating the human-machine interaction using natural language.

Michael Spira is CEO and Co-Founder of Data Q Company. DQC's software helps companies find data anomalies and ensure or improve data quality. Before, he was Principal at DigitalBCG, ambassador for AI at the BCG Henderson Institute and holds a PhD in Empirical Financial Economics.

Rosmarie Steininger is the founder and CEO of CHEMISTREE. She thinks it's great to effect relationships, and to do so with the help of algorithms. After studying business administration with a focus on business informatics, she spent eight years at the BMW Group developing algorithms for logistics systems and managing international projects. During her six years on the management board of the Eberhard von Kuenheim Foundation of BMW AG, she designed and managed charitable projects whose success was based on particularly good relationships among the participants. She brought both facets together in 2017 when she founded CHEMISTREE. CHEMISTREE develops matching and community platforms for its clients, e.g. for mentoring, peer coaching or for events. Excellence and trust in software development are important to Rosmarie Steininger - both in her company and in her role as an expert in the German government's AI strategy and the AI standardization roadmap.

Daria Stepanova is an aerospace engineer, founder, and CEO of AIRMO GmbH, a Munich-based startup dedicated to building a constellation of small satellites for tracking greenhouse gas emissions. With a strong presence in the new space industry for the past 8 years, Daria has been actively pushing the small satellite sector. She has led teams in deployment of 12 small satellite missions encompassing Earth Observation, IoT, and Scientific and Technology demonstration missions. Her expertise spans the entire satellite lifecycle, from design and manufacturing to assembly, testing, launch, and operation, enabling her to support diverse applications and teams. 

As the CEO of AIRMO, Daria brings a unique perspective on the conduct of small satellite projects, the swift implementation of aerospace innovations, and the agility and speed of the sector. Daria actively contributes to the space community as a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council, where she previously led the Small Satellite Project Group with over 300 active members and currently serves in an advisory capacity. She also participates in the Entrepreneurship and Investment Committee of the International Astronautical Federation, further demonstrating her commitment to advancing the field.

Tim is a physical scientist turned data scientist turned AI manager. At Schwarz Group, Europe’s largest retailer, he leads the AI Engineering department, whose mission is to deliver value through AI data products. To this end, Data Science and Product Engineering teams work together to build a plethora of production-grade AI solutions for retail, food production, and waste management. Schwarz Group is Europe’s leading retailer (Lidl, Kaufland) and also active in food production (Schwarz Produktion) as well as in waste management and recycling (PreZero). In total, Schwarz group has more than 500,000 employees and an annual revenue of more than 130 bn EUR.

Business Studies in Leipzig (HHL), Berlin (FU, BA), HongKong (HKUST) 

First Internet, Startup experiences in 2005 @Jamba 

Co-Founder Mister Spex 2007 

>20 Angel Investments since 2008 

Deep Tech company builder with focus on research Spin-offs 2017-2019 

HR lead and executive search (C-Level addition, founder successor) 2020-2023 

Switched sides and joined High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) in 2023

Faruk Tuncer is the founder and CEO of Polyteia, the leading data platform for the public sector. A graduate of the Hertie School in Berlin, he previously worked as a consultant in the strategy department of the CDU, where he was responsible for the topic area of municipalities, and as a project manager at the Lead Academy. Faruk Tuncer is a member of the Science and Innovation Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of the Interior on the modernisation of registers and the Federal Government's Digital Summit. He has also been Bitkom's state spokesperson for Berlin and Brandenburg since May 2023.

Arian van Hülsen has been working at PTC since 2016 and leads a team of experts on the topics of Industrial Internet of Things, analytics and augmented reality. Together with his team, he supports numerous customers and partners across Europe in their digital transformation using the latest and most innovative software technologies. One of these innovations is the Industrial Internet of Things platform ThingWorx, with which industrial data can be collected, processed and analyzed using machine learning. The insights gained flow into application areas such as predictive maintenance, product quality prediction and optimization of resource consumption in production. 

Previously, Arian van Hülsen has been with Hewlett Packard Enterprise since 2006 and has worked in the roles of software developer, technical consultant, technical project manager and most recently as a Big Data solution architect in the Analytics & Data Management division.

Dr Stefan Walter studied physics both at Würzburg and Stony Brook. He earned his his PhD in theoretical quantum physics from the University of Würzburg. Following his doctoral studies, he held held PostDoc positions at the University of Basel and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen. 

For four years, Dr Walter worked as a project manager in the automotive industry, where he focused on machine learning applications. Recognizing his passion for cutting-edge technologies, he joined Fujitsu, where he currently is a technical consultant. 

At Fujitsu, Stefan helps clients comprehend and evaluate the potential of quantum and quantum-inspired technologies, particularly for addressing real-world optimization problems, providing innovative solutions for practical challenges. He is also recognized as a Fujitsu Distinguished Engineer.

Dr. Barbara Wellmann is the Lead of Quantum.Link, Deloitte’s technology consulting unit focusing on quantum technologies and its implications for the future of businesses and industries. She helps clients to leverage the benefits and to understand the risks of quantum and develops suitable long-term implementation strategies in a business context. Her particular aim is to develop ecologically sensible and sustainable concepts. Barbara completed her PhD in applied laser physics at the MQ Photonics Research Center in Sydney, Australia. Before joining Deloitte she worked at the boutique consultancy Förderbar focusing on disruptive startup incubation and innovation projects and at DB mindbox, the startup hub of Deutsche Bahn. She combines extensive innovation management and digitization expertise with industry experiences and a passion for new digital business models.

After finishing a Bachelors degree in Psychology, Laura Werle started studying computer science. However, she dropped out to join Growify, a B2B-SaaS Startup for Skillmanagement and Corporate Learning as a "junior co-founder" and COO at the age of 21. After building Growify up for 3.5 years, leading the operations for 30 people at its peak, she decided she wanted to build learning solutions that help everyone, not only employees in companies with a sufficient L&D budget, so she moved on to Snackz.ai in May 23.

Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Werner is a Principal Consultant Data & AI at Thoughtworks. With over 20 years of experience on the intersection of AI/ML, (industrial) data and infrastructure he supports customers around the globe in making transformation happen. As a chemical engineer by training, he has worked in management positions in chemical industry, as entrepreneur & CTO building and scaling a corporate spin-off, at software vendors as well IT strategy consulting and builds a diverse experience in “what moves the needle”. He served on the board AK BigData & Advanced Analytics in Bitkom e.V. and is part of several conference committees and industry associations as well as a frequent keynote speaker at events.

Steffen Wittenauer is one of the world's most renowned experts in the field of IBM Planning Analytics (TM1). As an Executive Consultant and Executive Solution Specialist at IBM, he designs global planning and reporting solutions for corporations and medium-sized companies. He also focuses on the topic of sustainability planning with its holistic view of the past, planning, simulation and optimization of the company's future as well as its financing.

Product Manager at Helsing, a New Defence company putting artificial intelligence at the service of our democracies. 

Previously Co-Founder and CEO of Design AI, a consultancy combining artificial intelligence development with design thinking methodology.

Academic degrees in Data Science, Management and Mathematics from the Technical University of Munich.