EHRENFRIED ZSCHECHEhrenfried Zschech is a consultant with hands-on experience in the fields of advanced materials, nanotechnology and microelectronics as well as process control and quality assessment. He holds honorary professorships for Nanomaterials at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and for Nanoanalysis at Dresden University of Technology. His activities include high-resolution X-ray imaging and the development of customized solutions for a broad range of applications including package failure analysis, metrology and inspection in microelectronics. Ehrenfried Zschech received his Dr. rer. nat. degree from Dresden University of Technology. He had several management positions at Airbus, at Advanced Micro Devices, at Fraunhofer and at the start-up deepXscan. Ehrenfried Zschech is Member of the European Academy of Science (EurASc) and Member of the of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (ACATECH). In 2019, he was awarded with the FEMS European Materials Gold Medal.  

VITO DI NOTOis Full Professor of Electrochemistry for Energy and Solid-State Chemistry in the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Padova, Italy. He is “Fellow of The Electrochemical Society” and Past President of the Electrochemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society. Di Noto is an electrochemist with more than 30 years of experience in functional materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices such as secondary batteries and fuel cells. In the late ‘90s he pioneered the secondary magnesium ion battery. Currently, his research activity is focused on the structure, relaxation phenomena and electrochemistry of ion-conducting, dielectric and electrode materials.

RALF WEHRSPOHNRalf Wehrspohn started his studies of physics at Ossietzky-University Oldenburg in 1990, completing his degree with the diploma thesis in physics at the University of Oldenburg and the École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France. From 1995-1997 he prepared his European PhD at the University of Oldenburg and the École Polytechnique, France. In 1998 he worked at the Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, England. Later in 1999 he changed to MPI, Halle, Germany, before he started as Full Professor at the University of Paderborn, Germany, in 2003. Since June 2006 he has been working as Full Professor in Experimental Physics of the University of Halle-Wittenberg. From 2006-2021 he goes as a director to the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Since 2021 he works as a Managing Director at the ITEL GmbH.  

MARTIN ZADRAŽILMartin Zadražil is a seasoned expert in innovation, technology, and business development. Zadražil’s career spans various high-level positions. Since 2022, he has been an innovation expert at the South Moravian Innovation Centre in Brno. In addition to his advisory roles, Zadražil has been an EIC jury since 2018. He is also a co-owner and Board Member of a hi-tech company Cactux. Previously, Zadražil held several influential positions, including Board Member & COO at TESCAN. Throughout his career, Zadražil has been recognized for his contributions to the development of cutting-edge technologies, earning accolades such as the Gold medal at MSV Brno and recognition from the Engineering Academy of the Czech Republic.  

ISABEL SALAVISAIsabel Salavisa s a retired Full Professor of Economics at ISCTE- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa in Lisbon. She was Vice-Rector for Research at ISCTE-IUL (2018-2022). She holds a PhD in Economics. Her research is carried out at DINÂMIA’CET – ISCTE – Centre for the Study of Socioeconomic Change and the Territory, of which she was director (2004-2013). She co-coordinated the ‘Innovation and Labour’ Research Group (until 2023). Salavisa’s research themes include economics of innovation; transitions towards environmental sustainability; and social policies and the Welfare State in Europe.  

JOSÉ FERREIRA MACHADOJosé Ferreira Machado is a professor of Economics and Econometrics at Nova School of Business and Economics. He holds a PhD in Economics by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A. and an Agregação (Habilitation) in Statistics and Econometrics by Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Machado served for 10 years (2005-2015) as Dean of Nova School of Business and Economics. Subsequently, until June 2017, he took up the role of Pro Vice Chancellor International and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management at Regent’s University London. From 2017 to 2022 he was Senior Vice-Rector of NOVA University Lisbon in charge of institutional advancement. Professor Machado has served in the different boards of public and private and, between 1992 and 2015 he collaborated with the Research Department of the Bank of Portugal.  

BERNARDETE RIBEIROBernardete Ribeiro is an Invited Full Professor in the Department of Informatics Engineering at the University of Coimbra and the Past Director of CISUC (Center for Informatics and Systems). She previously served as President of the Portuguese Association for Pattern Recognition (APRP). She is the Founder and Director of the Laboratory of Artificial Neural Networks for over 30 years. She also acts as an Expert Evaluator for the EU. Her research spans various topics in machine learning and Responsible AI. She has led and participated in numerous research projects at both national and international levels across diverse application areas. She is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, and member of several professional AI societies.