GREENTECH FESTIVAL SPEAKERS

Alessandro Piccinini is the Managing Director of Nespresso Germany. Piccinini is an experienced International Executive within the FMCG industry. He has a background in brand, strategy, people, innovation, and customer experience. He is committed to creating positive impact on people and to contributing to the economic and societal transformation for the better, currently with a focus on the coffee sector.

Ricarda Lang became party leader of the German Green Party (BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN) in February 2022. Prior to her work in the Green Party, she was Speaker of the Green Youth (2017-2019). She went on serve as deputy chairwoman and Speaker for Women’s Policy of the Green Party (2019-2022). In September 2021, she was elected as a Member of the German Bundestag, where she sits on the Committee for Family Policy.

Simon has worked at the intersection of climate and innovation for over a decade as an economist and entrepreneur with endeavors that include one of the first climate tech incubators in the US; the first large scale urban tech collaboratives in NYC and Detroit; and the Urban Tech Summit at Cornell Tech. In 2019, as the Founder of CIV:LAB and in partnership with the City of New York, Simon built ‘The Grid’, a local urban innovation collaborative of 130+ urban innovation organizations the subsequently launched Detroit Urban Solutions in 2020. Most recently, CIV:LAB has begun to fund community climate initiatives in education, workforce development and technology as part of a one of a kind national climate grant network with the goal of deploying $1bn across the United States to fight climate change.

Nidhi is Co-Founder of Science For Society – S4S Technologies. Nidhi works at the intersection of agriculture, gender, energy access and financial inclusion. S4S Technologies helps small holder women farmers set-up their agro-processing factories helping them adapt to climate chang, become economically independent and get dignified work. S4S helps 3000 women farmers increase their household income by 2X.S4S works with 100k farmers in 400 villages in India and reduces 100k Tons of food from getting wasted annually and also reduces 300k Tons of CO2 from entering the environment. Nidhi is winner of many awards including the Earthshot Prize instituted by HRH Prince Williams.Nidhi holds a bachelor’s in Chemical Technology from the Institute of Chemical Technology.

Karl Haeusgen, born in 1966, studied business administration in Switzerland at the University of St. Gallen. After graduating, he worked for MAHO AG, then in Asia for the textile machinery manufacturer Barmag AG. In 1996, Haeusgen became managing director of HAWE Hydraulik GmbH & Co. KG and, after the company’s conversion into an SE, became spokesman for the Executive Board in 2008. Today, he is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of HAWE Hydraulik SE, Munich. Haeusgen has been involved in the VDMA for many years. From 2008 to 2014, he was Chairman of the Board of VDMA Bavaria. In 2013, he was elected vice president of the VDMA. In October 2020, Karl Haeusgen was elected VDMA President by the VDMA General Assembly.

Dr. Daniela Gerd tom Markotten studied industrial engineering and received her doctorate in IT security, combining two passions: IT and technology. She held various positions in IT, logistics and production at Daimler AG, such as CEO of “Daimler Fleetboard Management” as well as Head of “Digital Solutions & Services” of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. In 2017, Daniela became CEO of moovel, a mobility joint venture of the BMW Group and Daimler AG. In mid-2020, she founded the tech startup IUHHOO GmbH, which is developing AI/AR-powered video calls for premium customer support. Daniela has been appointed Board Member for Digitalization and Technology at Deutsche Bahn AG in September 2021. Her mission: utilizing digitalization and technology to make Deutsche Bahn the most popular and sustainable means of transport for customers.

Mamphela Ramphele is a world-renowned figure with an outstanding career as an activist, medical doctor, academic, businesswoman, and political thinker. She has been Co-President of the Club of Rome since October 2018 until end of term in 2023. She is the  Co-Founder & Global Brand Ambassador of ReimagineSA since 2016. Previously, she served as a Managing Director at the World Bank from 2000 to 2004 and as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, from 1996 to 2000. She obtained a medical degree from the University of Natal in 1968, where she co-founded the Black Consciousness Movement with Steve Biko and became involved in the South African Students Association (SASO).

Regina is the Head of the SDG2 Acceleration at the United Nations World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator. She is leading the Sourcing, Bootcamp and Sprint Programmes with focus on innovations to disrupt hunger. Before joining the Accelerator, Regina was a Partner with a focus on Consumer Goods & Retail at a leading Strategy Consulting firm. She supported customers in more than 30 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America in developing, innovating and growing their businesses. She has a broad understanding of the different topics along the food value chain.

Nico Rosberg is well-known as the 2016 Formula 1 World Champion. Since leaving the racing series, he is passionately committed to the issue of sustainability. As an entrepreneur and investor in green technologies and mobility startups, he represents visionary innovations that make the world a little better. In numerous projects around the world, he also contributes to the topic of environmental protection, health, equality and justice. In 2019, he co-founded the GREENTECH FESTIVAL, a global platform for pioneering sustainable ideas that takes place annually in Berlin. Since 2021, he has been competing with Rosberg X Racing in Extreme E, a racing series that aims to draw attention to the consequences of global climate change.

Christian Lindner is Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance and a member of the German parliament (Bundestag). Lindner was elected party leader of the Free Democrats in December 2013. As chairman of the Free Democrats Parliamentary Group (2017-2021) Christian Lindner established a constructive and successful parliamentary group in the German Bundestag. In the 2021 elections the FDP achieved one of its best results ever. After successful coalition negotiations Christian Lindner became Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance in the first ever three-party coalition on December, 8th 2021.

Meet Gillord, a multilingual entertainer from Curaçao who is passionate about bringing joy to people’s lives through entertainment. With fluency in several languages, including Papiamentu, Dutch, English, German, and Spanish, he has the ability to connect with diverse audiences and make them feel at home. Not only that, but Gillord has also worked with some of the biggest names in entertainment, such as Netflix and Disney, as a voice actor, and has hosted several events in different industries. As an entertainer, Gillord is dedicated to using his talents to make the world a brighter place, one event at a time.

Nina Eichinger is a German TV and Radio host, who is well known for her work in various sectors including MTV, German Idol, Echo Klassik and Cinestar.  However her big passion is Ecology and the Environment.  She studied environmental Sciences in California and Rainforest Ecology in Queensland.  She lives in Munich and has spent the last years being active in numerous movements and projects fighting climate change, biodiversity loss and the lack of communication regarding these topics.  Furthermore she strongly believes that an agricultural country like Germany can and must operate sustainably in order to tackle our future biodiversity and climate crisis. After studying permaculture, she just started the “Ways of the Wild” foundation which aims to connect habitats, people and organizations to increase biodiversity.

My mission is to scour the globe for technologies that can transform the Lufthansa Group airlines towards a more sustainable future operation, and then implement them into our organization. The CleanTech Hub focuses on scaling and commercializing homegrown tech from within the group companies and establishing partnerships with startups and corporates in the areas of aircraft retrofits, SAF and alternative fuels, digital solutions, waste and circular economy, and everything between and beyond, comprising new powertrains, hydrogen, electric, hybrid, etc. I have a background in logistics, aviation, IT, and have lived and worked in 6 countries.

Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss is Founder & CEO at Dance, an e-bike subscription service founded with the purpose of having a positive impact on health, sustainability and livable cities. Prior Eric founded SoundCloud in 2007 and served as CPO for 12 years.

Marco Voigt is one of Germany’s green visionaries. Back in 2008, he founded the GreenTec Awards, an award for sustainable technologies, companies and projects. Before he launched the GREENTECH FESTIVAL in 2018 together with former F1 champion and sustainability entrepreneur Nico Rosberg and co-founder of the awards Sven Krüger, he was known primarily in the startup scene as a “green serial founder.” With the motto #celebratechange GTF inspires those who already are or want to become change makers with the most innovative green technologies and ideas for a sustainable lifestyle. Under Marco’s influence, GTF became the first event of its kind to create a space for inspiration and networking around the topic of sustainability aiming to actively promote technological, economic, and societal change.

In 2018 Lukas Neuss founded KitchenTown Berlin together with Eike Kieras. As Co-Founder he is dedicating all his professional attention to startups, venture building and food innovation. Earlier, Lukas lead a Digital Transformation Hub at Bahlsen Group.

Fabian has been active in the European startup ecosystem for more than 14 years. He founded four companies in this time, including Sanity Group and Locafox, and invests as a business angel in early-stage start-ups (25+ investments). In 2023 he joined cultivated seafood company BLUU as Co-CEO, to help saving the endangered marine ecosystems with a resource-efficient platform to produce safe, healthy, and tasty seafood grown from cells.

Board Chairman since Inception. Played key role in the establishment and growth of the company. Vast experience in International strategic Business management, Corporate Government and Private Sector Development. Key player in making sure Emerging cooking solutions meets it’s target and pushing hard for environmental clean solutions and health cooking with the establishment of our clean stoves. We advocate for clean and healthy cooking and clean environment.

With more than a decade experience from renewable energy technology and project finance, Melanie now focusses on connecting sustainable solutions with corporate venture capital, ensuring the scalability of startups advancing digital infrastructure solutions for a greener future. Current efforts are geared towards advancing the energy and mobility transition, exemplified by investments in battery analytics company Volytica Diagnostics and carbon management platform Cozero.

After completing his studies in Business Administration and Management in Tübingen, the USA, China, and Berlin, Joscha earned his professional stripes alongside companies such as DAIMLER AG and Charité Berlin, particularly at a management consultancy firm. Here, he worked as a Senior Consultant in the financial sector, mainly leading M&As in the banking industry. As AWE-enthusiast, he has been actively supporting EnerKíte since October 2022 and was appointed CFO of the company in March 2023. Here, he is primarily responsible for financial planning, controlling, investor relations, fundraising, and corporate strategy.