René Rohrbeck is Professor of Strategy and director of the chair on “Foresight, Innovation and Transformation” at the EDHEC Business School, France. He holds a doctorate from the Technical University Berlin. In his main research field “Corporate Foresight” he is an internationally recognized thought leader and award winner.

In his research he develops methods for participatory foresight, scenario-based strategizing and conducts regular benchmarking studies on the Future FITness of organizations. René Rohrbeck has developed a portfolio of Executive Education courses on strategic foresight, which he has delivered around the world, both as open programs and customized courses for individual organizations. He teaches Strategy, Strategic Foresight, and Business Model Innovation on different MBA programs.

Mike is the founder & CEO of ITONICS, a vibrant and fast growing software and solutions company in the innovation management space. Mike has 15+ years of experience in innovation and technology management, IT strategy and management, entrepreneurship and academic teaching and research. After more than 5 years in strategy and IT consulting he designed and managed the innovations & research department in a Fortune500 company.

In 2009 Mike founded ITONICS, a company specialized in consulting and software solutions for strategic foresight, innovation management, trend and technology management and innovation roadmapping. He since then grew ITONICS from 5 to more than 50 employees and serves clients like Audi, Benteler, Brose, Cisco, Continental, Daimler, Intel, Osram, PepsiCo, Siemens or Total Oil&Gas with integrated innovation management solutions. Between 2010 and 2016 he was teaching and researching as professor in information systems/ technology management at FOM Hochschule fuer Oekonomie und Management in Nuremberg and at various other universities like European Business School or Steinbeis Berlin.

Chris is an innovation and machine learning enthusiast, speaker and the CCO of ITONICS, a vibrant and fast-growing software and solutions company in the field of growth strategy and innovation management. Since joining ITONICS in 2011, he has led a team of innovation experts and international projects across multiple industries helping companies to enable, shape, and grow their corporate foresight and  innovation management activities.

Chris has more than 8 years of comprehensive experience in managing the fuzzy front-end of innovation. His profound expertise includes automated environmental scanning with big data analysis, corporate foresight, trend and technology management, startup scouting, as well as the identification and prioritization of profitable growth and investment strategies.

Tobias is founding and managing partner of Rohrbeck Heger. As industrial engineer he has a background in business and technology and has been working in industry, public-private-partnerships and closely with scientific institutions and startups in the last years.

Tobias has designed, implemented and headed the EIT Challenge – a distributed pan-European startup and scale-up contest – from its initial idea to the end of a successful first year. Further milestones in his career have been the successful development of large-scale, international innovation and startup contests at Multi-National Corporations, the systematic exploration and planning of new business fields, trend analysis methods and tools, and the roll-out of several innovation and trend radars.

Parallel to consulting, Tobias is also an active researcher and business angel. His research has been published in leading international journals and on conferences such as Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Futures, ISPIM, and the R&D Management Conference. Through his investment company Tobias advises founders, with a particular focus on IT, logistics and mobility.

Dr. Sebastian Knab is a manager at Rohrbeck Heger GmbH. He holds a master's degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from Technische Universität Berlin and a Ph.D. from Universität Hamburg. Before, Sebastian was a project manager for innovation management at the EICT, Berlin, and a research assistant at Technische Universität Berlin, Chair of Sustainable Electric Networks and Sources of Energy (SENSE) and Universität Hamburg, Department of Socioeconomics. At the EICT, he established the energy business group and conducted projects on business modeling, innovation planning and strategic foresight. Furthermore, he established and co-led EIT Digital's smart energy systems and business modeling activities.

Sebastian has worked for the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in the Department of Energy, Transportation and Environment and for Prognos AG in the area of Energy Economics and Policy. He has also gained industry experience at Total SA, France, Elektral A.Ş, Turkey, Daimler AG and Aurubis AG, both Germany.

After studying food technology at the University of Hohenheim since 2003, Karsten Roth has worked as a project manager, QHSE and QM manager in the food industry. His career has taken him from potato processing and edible oil production to the Allgäu family cheese dairy Hochland - one of the largest private cheese manufacturers in Europe, where he has been QM manager since 2010.

Since his 2016 annual meeting with his boss, which basically went like this: "Karsten, would you be up for being my sustainability manager?" - "Yes, absolutely!" - Karsten is also responsible for sustainability management and climate protection at Hochland AG.

Josef Mair is Professor of Packaging Technology at Stuttgart Media University. He teaches on the topics of packaging machinery and innovation management. His research focuses on plastics and cardboard processing.

Josef has held various research and development positions without interruption since his studies at the Munich University of Applied Sciences and his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich. Prior to his professorship, he worked for large global machine manufacturers where he was responsible for research and innovation. He became familiar with the barriers that established companies have to overcome when introducing new products.

Will be announced soon.

As the effects of climate change become increasingly prevalent, the technology ecosystem will influence sustainability over the coming decade. By recent estimates, the Information, Communication and Technology sector may consume 2-3% of current global energy, and left unaddressed, can raise that figure to as high as 20% by the end of the decade.

Can actions be taken that reduce this footprint? Can technology be used to accelerate the utilization of renewable energy sources into our everyday lives? What do these trends mean for the tech ecosystem in terms of efficiency, device lifecycle – from cradle to cradle? In tracking this topic from Intel’s Data Center Strategy Office, John has partnered with various leading players in the technology sphere as unpack this grand challenge into actionable paths that can be taken.

With the experience of 16 years of consulting in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energies and climate strategies for companies, associations, national ministries and the European Commission, Thomas Boermans joined E.ON in 2016.

At E.ON, Thomas Boermans is heading the foresight activities within the corporate strategy team. Working with innovation-, business- and strategy teams as well as with the E.ON Board and Supervisory Board, the mission of foresight is to make E.ON future ready. The activities are shaped to provide insights on future opportunities and risks based on the analysis of trends in technology, markets, policy & society.

Alex is a member of BMW Group's Sustainability and Mobility Leadership Team. His responsibilities include steering BMW Group’s sustainability strategy and integrating sustainability into business functions (with a focus on the supply chain). Core issues include the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, Circular Economy as well as environmental & social standards in the supply chain. Prior to joining BMW Group, he worked as a Director for Sustainability in London, a global strategy consultancy and think tank, and as a research associate for IMD Lausanne. Alex completed a PhD in strategic management and holds a major in business administration and electrical engineering. He is a member of various sustainability organizations, including the German Association of the Club of Rome and the Responsible Leaders Network of the BMW Foundation.

Stephan Hankammer is Juniorprofessor for Sustainability Management and Entrepreneurship at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences and Affiliated Researcher at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University. He studied business administration, European studies and philosophy in Münster, Granada, Marburg and Seville and received his doctorate at RWTH Aachen University with a thesis on customized and collaborative value creation from the perspective of sustainability.

At Alanus University, he heads the pioneering bachelor’s program “Sustainability Management” and conducts research and teaching on topics related to sustainability-oriented innovation management, collaborative and digital value creation (e.g., mass customization), sustainable business models for a socio-ecological transformation, and on the role and design of corporate organizations in the era of sustainable post-growth. His work in interdisciplinary business sustainability research has been awarded, among others, the Friedrich Wilhelm Prize of RWTH Aachen University and the Prize for Interdisciplinary Research of the RWTH Faculty of Economics

Altor Equity Partner’s Head of ESG, Stephanie Hubold, is part of the private equity firm’s value creation team, and responsible to integrate ESG across Altor’s entire ownership cycle. She has long had a passion to develop solutions that reconcile economic with social and environmental objectives. She has more than 12 years of experience in top-management consulting and the non-profit sector. In her previous role, she was responsible for QVARTZ’ (now: Bain Nordics) Sustainability practice, supporting leading corporates in the Nordics and Germany on their sustainability journeys.

Prior, she has been driving projects on systemic change towards a circular, low-carbon economy with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in the UK, after starting her career with McKinsey & Company in Munich, where for 5 years she was an active part of both the financial institutions group and the sustainability practice.

Gianfranco Gianfrate is Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School. He writes and researches on topics related to business sustainability and climate change finance. Prior to joining EDHEC Business School, he held teaching and research positions at Erasmus University (Netherlands), Harvard University (USA), University of Cambridge (UK), and Bocconi University (Italy).

Gianfranco also has extensive experience in the financial industry, having worked, among others, for Deloitte Corporate Finance (Italy), Hermes Investment Management (UK), and iStarter (UK). Gianfranco holds a BA and a PhD in Business Administration from Bocconi University and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Leoni Gros is part of the Innovation and Strategy team at Berlin Hyp. She has been involved in the company's sustainability management for 7 years and represents Berlin Hyp externally in various specialist and working groups. With her passion for sustainable development and more than 20 years of experience in banking and corporate development, she has an excellent basis for advancing the topic of Sustainable Finance at Berlin Hyp and beyond. 2021 she supports the World Green Building Council and the DGNB German Sustainable Building Council as a BuildingLife Campaign Ambassador prior to COP26.

Berlin Hyp specializes in large-volume real estate financing for professional investors and housing companies. As an enterprise forming a Group together with the German savings banks, it also makes an extensive spectrum of products and services available to these institutions. Berlin Hyp plays a pioneering role in the development of sustainable refinancing products. Sustainability is a central component of the Bank’s business strategy. Thus, Berlin Hyp promotes the financing of sustainable real estate and seeks to support the transformation of the real estate market in order to contribute to achieving the goal of climate neutrality.