Dr. René Cotting is the newly appointed Head of Operations, Innovation and R&D as well as the Chairman of Technology Ventures of ABB Group. Hereby, he is responsible for the implementation and deployment of ABBs Innovation strategy initiatives, investments and the global controlling of R&D. Additionally, he is leading the common industrial and software development centers in India and Poland and ABB’s lean product development program.

Rene joined ABB in 1995 and has held different management positions in finance and strategic management in Switzerland, in the Silicon Valley and Houston (USA). His last position has been CFO of ABB Switzerland and member of the Executive Board.

Rene holds a PhD in Strategic Management, Accounting and Macroeconomics from University of Fribourg, Switzerland, with further studies at IMD (Lausanne, Switzerland), Harvard Business School (Boston, USA) and Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University (Evanston, USA). He is among others Member of the foundation and economic advisory board of Switzerland Innovation (https://www.switzerland-innovation.com).

Niels Dietzsch is Programm Lead of Fraunhofer TechBridge and Investment Manager at Fraunhofer Venture. Mr. Dietzsch supports Fraunhofer-Startup-Collaboration and venture development of various portfolio companies in the ICT-segment. Mr. Dietzsch has own entrepreneurial expertise and several years of work experience in Venture Capital and Corporate Finance Advisory. He studied at TUM Business School in Munich and HEC in Paris.

Fraunhofer is Europe's largest application-oriented research organization. Its venture unit, Fraunhofer Venture, is the central partner for all venture related activities. It enables and supports all spin-off activities as well as external start-ups seeking technology collaboration. Besides it provides an ecosystem for startups, investors and other partners.

Ekonomista, absolwent kierunku Stosunki Międzynarodowe w Szkole Głównej Handlowej w Warszawie. Od 1999 roku pracował w Zespole Doradców Prezydenta RP prowadząc edukacyjne projekty społeczne z zakresu nowych technologii. Stworzył i prowadził „Internet w Szkołach”, największy program społeczny Prezydenta RP. W 2004 jako doradca Prezesa Zarządu Grupy TP stworzył i prowadził największą w Polsce fundację korporacyjną - Fundację Grupy TP, znaną dziś pod nazwą Fundacja Orange. Podłączenie Polskich szkół do szerokopasnowego Internetu, granty dla gmin wiejskich na innowacyjne projekty technologiczne (Rzeczpospolita Internetowa) czy instalowanie bezpłatnych telefonów w szpitalach dziecięcych (Telefon do Mamy), stały się najbardziej rozpoznawalnymi projektami społecznymi w Polsce i za granicą.

W 2010 roku Michał dołączył do Intela, gdzie jako Dyrektor Corporate & Government Affairs na Europę odpowiada za zespół do kontaktów z rządami, światem akademickim oraz organizacjami międzynarodowymi. Michał odpowiada też za proces angażowania Intela w ekosystem startupowy w regionie EMEA, prowadząc m. in. największy program akceleracyjny w obszarze IoT o nazwie Challenge Up! by Intel, Cisco and Deutsche Telecom. Wspólnie z innymi partnerami instytucjonalnymi, Michał stworzył Koalicję na Rzecz Polskich Innowacji, oraganizację, której celem jest stworzenie w Polsce optymalnych warunków dla procesów innowacyjnych.

Stefan Heuser is the vice president of operations and innovation at Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC).

Stefan has global operational responsibility for a 300 person organization that focuses on innovation programs in the areas of digital health, storage and data center, Internet of Things (IoT), and smart machines. He is also responsible for university relations.

Prior to joining SSIC Stefan built an early stage venture investment team for Samsung Global Innovation Center (GIC), was responsible for university relations and technology scouting.

Earlier in his career, Stefan was the CFO and VP finance for Siemens smart grid applications. Before this he led Siemens Technology to Business (TTB) an innovation center in Berkeley, California, where he focused on innovation projects and venture investments.

He began his career at Siemens in the finance organization where he learned best practices in corporate finance and cash management and treasury. He then expanded his skill set to include strategy and operations.

Stefan holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München (Munich, Germany).

Co-founder, Investor & Partner at Innovation Nest, an early stage VC firm focused on B2B Software and Industrial Internet; previously i.a. long-term executive board member, COO and senior vice president of the Onet.pl (the largest horizontal portal in Poland and one of the biggest in Europe) and director of Promotion and Product Development Department in Tymbark SA (important FMCG company in Poland); having rich experience in internet, marketing, media, technology and investment; engineer - constructor with long experience (electronics, IT) at the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology in Cracow; a graduate of the University of Science and Technology (AGH) in Cracow (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Automatics, Computer Science and Electronics), and of business studies at the School of Business – National Louis University in Nowy Sacz.

Specialties: technology, Internet, marketing, media, investment

Dr. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli co-founded Cadence Design Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA; and Synopsys Inc., Mountain View, CA – the two world leading EDA companies.

Board of Directors: Cadence Design Systems, KPIT-Cummins, Sonics, and Expert Systems. Former Advisory Boards: ST Microelectronics, HP Strategic Technology, General Motors, United Technologies Corporation.

Governmental and Strategic Research Organizations: former advisor to the Singapore Government for microelectronics and new ventures; Advisory Board of the Lester Center for Innovation and Center for Western European Studies, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley; Berkeley Roundtable of the International Economy (BRIE); Governing and Public Authority Board, High-Level Group and Steering Committee of the EU Artemis Joint Technology Initiative, EU; Executive Committee of the Italian Institute of Technology.

Boards & Committees of Technology in Investment Funds: Walden International (USA), Sofinnova (France), Innogest (Italy), Xseed(USA) - Advisory Boards; Atlante Ventures (by Banca Intesa/San Paolo, Italy) and Fondo Next (Italy) - Investment Committees; Strategic Committee of the Italian Strategic Fund, President, since 2013

Recipient of two honoris causa doctorates from University of Aalborg, Denmark (2009) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden (2011).

Ramón A. Tancinco II is the Cisco Krakow Site Leader and the IT Theatre Relationship Executive for Central Eastern Europe, Russia/CIS and the Mediterranean. He was previously the Head of Strategy and Business Development for Central and Eastern Europe for Cisco Systems®, where he focused on macro-economics, strategy and business development and is a Cisco veteran of 17 years. In other Cisco roles, he was a Manager in the Cisco Services group where he led an Information Technology Development team as well as the Optical Networking Group (Cisco’s Cerent start-up acquisition) where he had Engineering Management responsibilities in global business planning, new product introduction and process improvement/implementation where he was personally responsible for the launch of a product which achieved over one billion dollars worth of revenue within the first year of introduction. He has also completed Cisco’s prestigious Global Leadership Program in Athens, Greece and Cisco’s Leadership Pipeline program focused on the company’s top 2% talent.

Ramon's background includes work at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), an ERP software start-up (purchased by Metamor Technologies), and as a Captain in the United States Army Armor Corps. He is a member of the Executive Board of ASPIRE, Poland’s premier business association, and was formerly the Chairman of the High-Tech Committee for the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland and the Executive Board of the US-Poland Fulbright Commssion.

He is also an active angel investor in global start-up companies.

Ramón A. Tancinco II received his Bachelor of Science in Management and Mechanical Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Jérôme Wittamer is Managing Partner at Expon Capital, a global Venture Capital firm dedicated to exponential technologies and markets. He is also President of Luxembourg’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (LPEA). Before he was Managing Director at Genii Capital (Investment Management and Corporate Finance Advisory). Previous roles included senior member of the management team at BIP Investment Partners S.A. While at BIP, he co-founded VOXmobile, a mobile telephone operator sold to Orange, where he served as Board Member and CFO. Jérôme also successfully invested in media and communication technology companies such as EVS, OPTION and Evertz.

Dr. Richard Zurawski is Managing Partner in a San Francisco based private equity firm specializing in the hi-tech sector. He has over 40 years of academic and industrial experience, including a professorial post at the University of Tokyo (東京大学 Tōkyō daigaku), Japan.

He was Director of R&D at Kawasaki Electric in Tokyo, Japan, and held various executive posts at a number of hi-tech companies in the San Francisco Bay area.

Dr. Zurawski co-founded three Silicon Valley based hi-tech companies. He was a partner in a joint venture in China with OrientTech, involved in the development of telecommunication equipment for the Chinese market. He has been involved in due diligence done for venture capital companies in California and NYC for close to 20 years.