Referentenprofile - Asien-Pazifik-Wochen Berlin

QIN Liwen

Keynote – Trends Analysis: Opportunities and Obstacles for Cross-Continental Cooperation (China and Germany) - Wednesday, May 25th, 12:30-13:00
Moderator: Look east! Hitfox - the company builder recognising the potential of the asian market before anyone else did, Wednesday, May 25th, 16:00-17:00

CEO & Founder TRENDS EURASIA, a consultancy firm based in Berlin aiming at bridging the startup and investement scenes of China and Germany. Innovation trend analyst. Sector focus: Digital, Green Tech, Media.

Mario Glowik

Keynote - Market Entry strategies of Asian High-Technoloy firms in Europe - Wednesday, May 25th, 5:30-6 p.m.

Professor of International Strategic Management at the Berlin School of Economics and Law.
His research deals with issues related to internationalization and innovation processes with a particular focus on global industry networks and its relevant actors. Before he was appointed a professor, he served more than eight years as a marketing and sales manager in the consumer electronics industry at several locations around the globe.

MAI Gang/Mark

Fireside Chat - Future of Ventures and Angel Investment, Monday, May 23rd 15:30-16:15
Fireside Chat - Trends in Investment and Crowd Funding and What’s in for European and Asian Startups, Friday, May 27th, 10:00-11:00

Since 1997, Gang Mai has invested and founded startups in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and the Silicon Valley. Mr. Mai helped pioneer China's startup investment scene in 2005 by founding with [Tim Draper], the first startup incubator in China VenturesLab. He also helped start the Shenzhen Capital Group, co-founded the Pudong Investment Group, and is a Ve nture Partner at DFJ Dragon. Mr. Mai has seen action from the other side of the table as an entrepreneur as well, founding many companies over the years. He helped start China's first social network, eFriendsNet, which was aquired by French company Meetic. Mr. Mai also started TongCard, China's first 020 loyalty card company, which he sold to Tencent. Recently, he founded OKCoin, China's largest Bitcoin exchange. OKCoin just closed their Series A investment round at 10 Million USD. Mai Gang also is the President China Young Angel Investor Association, Founder of VenturesLab (biggest angel investor organization in China), Vice President Canton Angels, President Tianjin Angels, Co-Founder Pudong Investment Group.

Dénes Honus

Panelist: ‘Save the World: How (digital) business models in Asia and Euorpe make the world a bit better and entrpeneurs accept responsbility’ - Thursday May 26th, 9:30-10:15
Fireside Chat - a smart cities founder's perspective on the Asian market (entry) - Thursday, May 26th, 11:30-12:00

Dipl.-Ing. M. Arch. Dénes Honus, CEO Green City Solutions.
Dénes studied architecture and urban design and graduated with a german-french diploma from TU Dresden and ENSA Strasburg. Dénes is responsible for the design and the product urban implementation. He gained profound experience in Germany, e.g. working as a the Chair of the Institute of Building Climatology TU Dresden and abroad, working for Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) in France. During his time in Paris he recognized the huge market potential for urban air purification systems and wrote his final diploma thesis exactly on that topic - the beginning of the idea of the CityTree. In 2016 Dénes has been listed as one of the “ 30 under 30” Social Entrepreneurs in Europe of Forbes Magazine.

Janna Lipenkova

Market research and entry strategies - conservative vs. innovative methods - Wednesday, May 25th, 17:00-17:30

Dr. Janna Lipenkova is CEO of Anacode GmbH, a Berlin startup developing software for text analytics and marketing research in China. She holds a MA (Magister) in Chinese Studies and Business and a Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics (Freie Universität Berlin) and has almost a decade of working experience in automatic language processing (Google, ABBYY Moscow and Lionbridge, among others). Janna has authored numerous publications and talks at international conferences. Her goal is to incorporate human language into technology, and to integrate technology into international business scenarios so as to shift globalization from being a challenge to becoming an opportunity.

Ayumi Matsuzaka

Panellist - "Save the World" - How (digital) business models in asia and europe tend to make the world a bit better and entrepreneurs accept responsibility - Friday, May 27th, 9:30-10:15

Social entrepreneur and conceptual artist with experience in nature cycle projects. Her Berlin-based Start-up DYCLE - Diapers Cycle closes nutrients cycle of baby diapers from distribution/collection of compostable diapers and transformation of them into rich hygienic black humus to growing varieties of fruits trees on the soil produced in the process. www.dycle.org, www.ayumi-matsuzaka.com

ZHOU Xian

Keynote - Building an accelerator out of a founders perspective: Why and how I decided to support and accelerate others, Thursday May 26th, 15:00-15:30

Founder of Buy42.com, the first online charity shop in China, co-founder of Aha impact Accelerator, the first imapct accelerator in China. MBA of University of Bonn, Master of PUblic POlificy of King’s College London, winnder of multiple national and international social enterprise awards, board member of some renowned social enterprises in China, startup coach.

Rahul Bansal

Panellist - "Save the World" - How (digital) business models in asia and europe tend to make the world a bit better and entrepreneurs accept responsibility Thursday May 26th 9:30-10:15

Rahul Bansal (MBA, Imperial College London) is the Deputy Director of Education at Climate-KIC. Rahul has over 10 years of experience across various industrial sectors and sub-sectors (Education, Health, Energy and Sustainability), having worked within an eco-system for early stage commercialisation of business ideas. He has advised global organisation in the UK, Europe, South Asia and China for both public and private sectors. Rahul has executed multi-million dollar strategies and has been on the Board of several small/medium size companies. He has been working with Imperial College London, one of world’s most dynamic centres for innovation and entrepreneurship, which has provided him an academic platform with cutting-edge research, a living entrepreneurship lab and an invaluable global network of expertise and experience.

Florian Hoffmann

Panellist - Refugees and Migration - The tech industry is not only watching but discovers potentials and uses them globally, Thursday, May 26th 10:15-11:00

Florian is the Founder of the DO School. The DO School empowers individuals and teams to learn how to turn their ideas into action, create innovation and impact that are good for themselves and society. The DO School is based in Berlin and New York. Prior, Florian was involved in starting organizations in philanthropy, in media and in the lifestyle industry in Asia, Europe and the US. Florian holds an MPhil in International Politics from Oxford University with distinction. He also studied arts and social sciences at ECLA of Bard College, Berlin’s Humboldt University and Duke University. Florian regularly contributes to the public debate on new forms of learning and innovation and has been teaching the DO School method at a variety of universities including Columbia University, Oxford University, the University of Geneva, the Hasso Plattner Institute at Potsdam University and the European Business School. In 2015, he was named a Fellow by the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards and is an Advisor to the American Friends of Bucerius. Florian lives with his wife and daughter between Berlin and New York.

Michelle Buultjens

Keynote – What´s up Hongkong!? Creating a foothold for international startups on the asian market via an accelerator program, Friday, May 27th, 11:30-12:00
Panellist – The pros and cons of accelerator and incubator programs: Powerful Collective or exploited innovation? Friday, May 27th, 14:00-15:00

Michelle is the Head of blueprint, Swire Properties’ tech focused accelerator and co-working space in Hong Kong’s bustling business district Taikoo Place. Within blueprint, Michelle is responsible for the overall brand strategy and marketing, and oversees blueprint’s business operations. Launched in January 2015, blueprint has received a strong response from local and international entrepreneurs, with successes seen in the connections between startups and the Swire Group, spanning industries including aviation, logistics, property, retail distribution, beverages and food chain. 30 companies have graduated from the programme to date. Prior to Swire Properties, Michelle worked for Cathay Pacific Airways in Hong Kong, and for Procter & Gamble (Beauty), Seven Network (Television Broadcasting) and The Coca-Cola Company (FMCG) in Australia. Originally from Sydney, Michelle graduated from University of Western Sydney with Honours in Media Communications (BA).

Evgeni Kouris

Panellist - Education in tech & entrepreneurship in Asia and Europe, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:00-15:00

Founder & CEO of Gamewheel – Game Ad platform with the mission to allow anyone to playfully unleash the power of games. Evgeni is passionate about education, art and technology. He previously founded one of the first AR/VR game studios – Toywheel – pioneering the usage of AR in educational digital toys & games for children. Prior to this, he was an artist & musician at Timid Tiger and strategic consultant at Platinion / BCG.

Martina Neef

Panellist - Education in tech & entrepreneurship in Asia and Europe, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:00-15:00

Martina is an entrepreneur and a business angel who has invested in several companies in the areas of technology, internet and sustainability. With her own company she consulted on infrastructure development with Latin American investors and state companies as well as ministries and governments in Mexico and Guatemala and drove economic development through these projects. One of her long-term projects was to realize Formula One in Mexico. Additionally Martina worked with the state owned company FONATUR. Martina is also an author and social entrepreneur. Her foundation Rock it Biz helps children to learn entrepreneurship by enabling teachers to ignite an entrepreneurial mindset and to teach the required tools. She has also been on the board of directors of various non-profit organizations contributing to social and arts organizations. She currently serves on the advisory board of The Do School, the female advisory board of the Hypovereinsbank and as a mentor to the Vietnam Silicon Valley Accelerator. Martina holds a degree in engineering and studied both business and marketing.

Sabrina Faschko

Look east! Hitfox - the company builder recognising the potential of the asian market before anyone else did, Wednesday, May 25th, 16:00-17:00

Sabrina is Director Telecom Partnerships at zeotap. She is responsible to win mobile operators throughout the APAC region and has built a strong foothold in the strategically important Indian market within the last 12 months. In her capacity she also overviews zeotap's advertising joint venture with renowned Mogaé Media in India. Sabrina is an experienced expert for complex global solutions sales and spent 6 years at IBM. Here she drove projects for lead clients across different industries from Automotive to Finance before joining zeotap in 2015. Sabrina holds a master’s degree in marketing from Dublin Business School.

Tim Koschella

Look east! Hitfox - the company builder recognising the potential of the asian market before anyone else did, Wednesday, May 25th, 16:00-17:00

Tim is a dedicated expert in international mobile and online performance marketing (CPI, CPL, CPA, CPE) with particular focus on the games industry. As Partner & Co-Founder of HitFox Group and Co-CEO of AppLift, one of the Group’s subsidiaries, he is working with 100+ game companies to acquire users for their free2play titles. Among these companies are many of the industries’ leading game publishers.

Tim has been an Internet entrepreneur for several years prior to co-founding HitFox Group and AppLift. He acted as a founder and managing director of the Leipzig based eLearning startup, lecturio.de and as Interim-CFO at one of Europe's leading sports apparel online retailers, mysportgroup.de.

Tim graduated with a Master Degree in Business & Economics from the leading German business school for entrepreneurial education (HHL) after studying at the University of Mainz and Universidad del Pacifico in Quito/Ecuador.

Holger Weiss

Panelist - "Asia meets Europe"
Chances and opportunities of connecting both markets and ecosystems for entrepreneurs and their companies Wednesday, May 25, 10:00-11:00

15+ year track record in managing technology driven companies with focus on consumer centric services. He was with gate5 from the early days - a company active in mobile navigation, which was acquired by Nokia in 2006. The company was the foundation of HERE maps, which was taken over by three German car makers in 2015 for almost 3 billion Euros. In 2008 he was one of the first investors of Aupeo, today's leading content platform for automotive. Since summer 2010 Holger led the company as CEO. In April 2013 Aupeo was acquired by Panasonic Automotive Systems. Holger managed the integration and alignment after the acquisition. End of 2015 he stepped down as CEO to focus on new entrepreneurial challenges. He is also an active business angel and startup mentor and is involved with companies in Germany, UK and the US. As a specialist for connected mobility he also acts as board member, conference speaker and author.

Vikram Upadhyaya

Panellist - New trends in incubators/accelerators, Monday, May 23rd, 17:00-17:30
Panellist - "Asia meets Europe"
Chances and opportunities of connecting both markets and ecosystems for entrepreneurs and their companies Wednesday, May 25, 10:00-11:00

Chief Mentor & Accelerator Evangelist, GHV Accelerator
Twitter: @vikramupadhyaya
Day Job: Venture Capitalist

A Graduate from University of Tokyo and Real Time Operating System Researcher who started his entrepreneurial journey way back in 1999. Founding Board Member of Indian Angel Network (IAN)-Incubator. Nominated Advisor by Telecom Center of Excellence-TCoE, (Govt. Of India’s PPP Innovation Program, operating under esteemed academic institutes of India).　He is widely known as Accelerator Evangelist and founder of GHV Accelerator, a unique and leading Accelerator of India. First Indian Featured as a cover story in Japan’s most famous economic magazine ”Keizaikai” in 2007 and first Entrepreneur nominated by Japan’s ICT Ministry in India-Japan ICT Committee(2009-2010). He holds 16 years of Indo-Japan Market Experience
He has invested in more than 20 startups which has a cumulative growth over US$ 1bn in less than 6 years with global clients like NASA, Google, E&Y;, Tata’s, Reliance, Pepsi, with 300% YoY Growth and presence in over 20 countries, with 10mn customers and supported by marque Investors such as Sequoia, Nexus, Matrix, Tenaya, IAN, who invested in follow on rounds. His portfolios are diversified from Hi-Tech to MediaTech, Fintech, Edu-tech, E-commerce, Hospitality, Ad-Tech, Fitness, Foodtech, Hyperlocal, Music, Fashion, etc.
Some of his star performer portfolios are: Druva, Stayzilla,CollegeSearch, LogiNext, Viedea(exited), Lazylad, Pindrop, Applop, Istyleyou, Mytaxiindia, Pickmylaundry.

Ramin Niroumand

Panellist - New trends in incubators/accelerators, Monday May 23rd, 17:00-17:30

Ramin is Co-Founder, Managing Director and Partner of FinLeap. He was the firm’s first team member and is responsible for strategic management and business model development. Utilizing his experience in consulting over 20 international banks, he now acts as an advisor and sparring partner for FinLeap’s founding teams. Prior to arriving at FinLeap, Ramin was Innovation Manager at DKB Deutsche Kreditbank AG, where he led the bank’s electronic and mobile payment innovation projects alongside PayPal, Sofortüberweisung and Cringle. He holds a degree in business information systems and was named one of Deloitte Consulting's youngest Senior Consultants at the age of 24.

Alexander Zumdieck

Panellist - The pros and cons of accelerator and incubator programs: Powerful Collective or exploited innovation? Friday, May 27, 14:00-15:00
Expert Match & Make Session - Old meets New Economy // Corporates and Startups from Asia & Europe, Friday May 27, 11:30-12:30

Alexander Zumdieck is a physicist turned McKinsey consultant turned entrepreneur turned startup accelerator guy. Taking the quantitative foundation and some firm beliefs in some basic laws from physics, he now enjoys assessing business opportunities. Working for McKinsey he used digital technologies to build the first ever payment system for microfinance organizations in Ethiopia. Back in Europe Alexander co-founded payleven, a payment system that allows small merchants to accept card payments using their mobile phone. Now he is the MD of of the startup accelerator that METRO runs together with Techstars and R/GA in Berlin. Prior to that he ran the pricing department at Zalando.

Sopheakmonkol Sok

Panellist - Education in tech & entrepreneurship in Asia and Europe, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:00-15:00
Panelist - Refugees and Migration - The tech industry is not only watching but discovers potentials and uses them globally, Thursday, May 26th, 10:15-11:00

Sopheakmonkol was a scholarship student and he graduated from University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, Major Information Management. Currently, he is Co-Founder and CEO of Codingate, a web and mobile development company based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since 2013, he established his startup, he leads the company to develop and implement business application technological solutions for more than 30s companies locally and internationally and multiple industries.

Beyond that, Sopheakmonkol also is a recognized figure as a young social entrepreneur leader who has empowered, mentored Cambodia technical youths in IT industries to get start to innovate and develop technologies that help Cambodia’s economies and welfare, and even started their own ventures.
Connect with him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sopheakmonkol7

Manhong Mannie Liu (PhD)

Keynote – Future of Venture and Angel Investment: Trends in China in a Global Perspective, Monday, May 23rd
Panelist: ‘Asia meets Europe’: Chances and opportunities of connecting both markets and ecosystems’ - Wednesday, May 25th, 09:30-11:00

Chairwoman of the Chinese National Venture Capital Research Committee & Director of the Venture Capital Research Group of the Chinese Academy of Science; Founder and Chairwoman VCChina Ltd., a global investment and consultation firm based in Beijing; Editor/Author of ‘Angels Without Borders’ (2015/ World Scientific Pub Co Inc); Professor, Ph.D (Cornell University), School of Finance, Renmin University of China.

GU Yuan

Workshop Facilitator: Beyond Events: How to move from exchange to longterm collaboration? Friday May 27th 9:30-11:00
Panelist: ‘The pros and cons of accelerator programs: Powerful Collective or exploited innovation?’ - Friday May 27th 14:00-15:00

Founder of the AHA School of Social Innovation and together with Ms. ZHOU Xian founding partner of AHA Education Impact Accelerator for Change, one of the key figures in social innovation and entrepeneurship in China. He is a mentor and angel investor of education startups, initiator of multiple social venture programs, member of the board of directors of several leading innovative education organizations, and author of several books on social innovation/enterprise.

Dr. CHENG Yiheng

Panelist: ‘Save the World: How (digital) business models in Asia and Euorpe make the world a bit better and entrepeneurs accept responsbility’ - Thursday May 26th, 09:30-10:15

Sustainability business expert with 30 years of experience in corporate, academia and entrepreneurship in Asia Pacific (Singapore, Hongkong, China, Taiwan) and Germany, incl. BASF sustainability executive Asia Pacific, (first Chinese) Member of the Club of Rome, Chief Operating Officer of CBI Investment Management Ltd. (HK) and recently Co-founder ‘EconoVation’ Lab@Tongji University Shanghai.

Dr. Marina GUO

Keynote - Business Cooperation Opportunities for Startups in the Creative Economy Field – Expertise and practical cases from Shanghai, Thursday, May 26th, 12:30-13:00

Cultural entrepreneur, strategist, academic. Founder and President of Huashan Multiversity; Rotating Chair at China Culture Technology Innovation Service Alliance, Vice Director John Howkins Research Center on Creative Economy at Shanghai Theatre Academy, Founding partner of BOP China Creative Ventures, co-founder of Shanghai Yorkie Investment Management Co., LTd. 15 years of Asia-Europe cooperation experience, including partnership with Berlin School of Creative Leadership (Steinbeiss University).

Yifan David Li

Panelist: ‘Save the World: How (digital) business models in Asia and Euorpe make the world a bit better and entrpeneurs accept responsbility’ - Thursday May 26, 09:30-10:15
Keynote: Challenges and Opportunities when a Silicon Valley high-tech startup enters China, Thursday, May 26 - 14:30-15:00

Founder and CEO of Hesai Technologies, China. Specialises in building high quality optical lasesr sensors that could be one of the best new tools against air pollution in China (inc. instant renewing air quality map for ordinary citizens to monitor via mobile app.) LI Yifan is, representing a new generation of globalized young Chinese entrepreneurs with a strong sense of social responsibility. Previous Silicon Valley Career, PHD in Robotics from the US.

Penny Low

Panelist - "Asia meets Europe"
Chances and opportunities of connecting both markets and ecosystems for entrepreneurs and their companies Wednesday, May 25th, 09:30-11:00
Keynote - ‘Social Innovation: Trends & Impact' Thursday, May 26th; 15:00-15:30

Founder of SIP- Social Innovation Park Ltd., Singapore, which is responsible for and participated in many TV and radio programs, significant forums and social innovators platforms. Co-Founder of the Social Enterprise Association, which housed the national platform for social enterprises in Singapore. Penny pioneered movements and entrepreneurship in many fields. Veteran Singapore Member of Parliament helped to build the first eco-town in the tropics.Published many articles and books, including ‘Top 50 Social Innovations Changing Our World’ and ‘Practising Sustainability’. Founding member of the Young Global Leaders, New Asian Leaders and curator of Global Shapers Community by World Economic Forum. Honoured with several significant titles and fellowships.

Ryotaro Bordini Chikushi

Panellist - "Asia meets Europe"
Chances and opportunities of connecting both markets and ecosystems for entrepreneurs and their companies Wednesday, May 25, 10:00-11:00
Keynote - Japan Town Project Berlin - 21st century urban development, Thursday, may 26th, 16:00-17:00

Ryotaro Bordini Chikushi is a serial entrepreneur with a background in Asian trends, advertising and production. He is a crossfield runner between design, fine arts and music.
After 9 years in Tokyo, he moved to Berlin in 2009 where he plunged into the young startup scene.
Ryotaro currently works on his 4th venture. Being born as a cultural hybrid, his mission is to create a bridge to foster synergies and nourish exchange in culture, business and lifestyle between Asia and Europe.
Ryotaro created the platform RESONANZ, which introduces projects and events from Berlin to Tokyo and vice versa since 2014.

Daria Markova

New Ways of Work: Death of Office Culture in Asia and Europe, Thursday, may 26th, 14:00 - 14:30

Technology develops now at accelerating pace. With this, new types of workforces are emerging; causing existing business structures to have a hard time keeping up with the trends. Over the next 15 years, we will witness the extinction of office culture as we know it. The details of this transformation process depend on the traditional work culture in every given region. The Western individualistic approach of the last decades is being challenged by new types of work communities, while the Eastern collaborative approach is challenged by the high levels of independence among digital workforces. This talk will focus on these new ways of working and the differences in their application in Europe and Asia.

Dr. Wing-Hin Chung

StartmeUp! Hongkong and its ecosystem, Thursday, May 26th, 10:00-11:00

Dr. Wing-Hin Chung was appointed Head, Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Berlin in November 2012.

After graduating with a master degree in business administration he worked as a research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Management of Free University Berlin.
During this period he gained his PhD with a dissertation on international joint ventures.
He then started to work in a garment trading and manufacturing company with headquarters in Hong Kong and production bases in China.
At the same time he spent several years as a guest lecturer for German-Chinese business relations at Baptist University in Hong Kong.

He is an expert both on macro-economic development and international trade and he has extensive sales and leadership experience in the private sector.
Wing-Hin Chung grew up in Germany and is a German citizen. He speaks German, English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
After an extended period of time in Hong Kong he moved back to Germany and lives in Berlin since November 2012.

Jan Lüdtke

Roundtable with Startups from Berlin and Asia, Monday, May 23rd, 18:00-19:00

Jan Lüdtke is the Country Manager DACH of Moovit for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, based in Berlin. Previously, Jan worked for the digital agencies Razorfish and KKLD* in different account and project management positions, and oversaw marketing campaigns for clients including BMW, Audi, Panasonic, and Bayer Healthcare. Other professional endeavors include working for marketing teams at BOSCH Powertools in Hong Kong, and the Tech Startup Ibotta in Denver, USA. Jan is a Fulbright recipient and holds a B.A. degree in Business Administration and a M.Sc. in Marketing specializing in High-Tech and Entrepreneurial Marketing.

Jayne Chan

StartmeUp! Hongkong and its ecosystem, Thursday, May 26th, 10:00-11:00

Jayne is Head of StartmeupHK at InvestHK, the government department responsible for attracting and retaining Foreign Direct Investment into Hong Kong. StartmeupHK is InvestHK’s initiative aimed at helping founders of innovative and scalable startups and related community from overseas to set up or expand in Hong Kong. Their services include providing information about the startup ecosystem here in HK, connecting people to the startup community, hosting startup events and helping to foster a positive environment for startups to thrive. Prior to joining InvestHK, Jayne was Executive Director at the HK chapter of TiE, a global non-profit network focused on fostering entrepreneurship in the markets in which they operate, and management roles at digital agencies, e-business integrators and startup incubator.

LIN Tao

Keynote: The metamorphosis of the Chinese manufacturing industry - Opporrtunities for German Investor and Startups, Thursday, May 26, 16:00-16:30

Founder T.I.M.E. Lab, global platform to upgrade traditional manufacturing industry in China with the help of global innovative talents; Planning program in Germany matching manufacturer’s technology demands with students; Former Editorial Editor Southern Metropolis Daily; Former publisher of MIT Sloan Management Review & Co (Chinese Version); Previously General Planner of Guangdong Province Governor Cup Industrial Design Competition.

Dr. Ganesh Shankar

Keynote - CHALLENGES BEHIND START-UPS – ‘THE INDIA STORY’, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:30-11:50

Dr. Ganesh Shankar ( Mumbai/ India), a natural scientist by disciplinary background ( PHd from Germany) has worked in Indo-German science, technology and innovation cooperation for almost 20 years, including 10 years of experience in different executive and advisor positions with the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (DIHK-Indien) for technology transfer and innovation exchange programs in IT, ET & BT fields (supported by German ministries, BMWI & BMU); he is currently representing the German ‘Forschungszentrum Juelich’. His tenure gave him the unique experience to deal with Indo-German collaborations on a wide range of subjects (from business development to marketing and to legal and IPR issues), and he helped match-make and incubate numerous collaboration projects. His interactions with the various German players in the ecosystem of Innovation Dialogue and their counterparts in India have helped him gain a thorough knowledge of business environments in both countries and enables him as a good bridge builder. He is following the development of India’s startup scene as a critical observer; in his key note he will assess and contextualize “objectively” its actual situation also look at political, social and economical reasons for challenges and failure.

Dr. Peer Ambrée

Keynote – Role and function of technology parks with regard to foundations, development and growth of companies, Monday, May 23 16:15-16:30

Peer Ambrée was born in Berlin in 1961. After school and military service, he studied physics at the Humboldt-University of Berlin and the University of Stuttgart. He earned his Ph.D in III-V-compound semiconductors for optoelectronics in 1990. After executing different scientific projects, he joined the Interdisciplinary Optoelectronics Research Association of Berlin where he was involved in restructuring the science community of the capitol region after German unification.

Since 1998, Peer Ambrée has been working at WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH, which operates and develops Germany ́s largest Science and Technology Park Berlin Adlershof. After setting up the Centre for Photonics and Optics, he took over responsibility of all technology centres in Adlershof. He became an authorized officer of WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH in 2009.

Peer Ambrée is a board member of the Berlin Business Location Centre and a member of the Executive Board of the German Association of Innovation, Technology and Business Incubation Centres.

Renata Piazza

Keynote and Think/workshop: "COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN POST GROWTH JAPAN: COLLABORATIVE MAPPING AS A TOOL FOR INTERNATIONAL ECOSYSTEMS CREATION" Thursday, May 26th 14:00 - 15:30

Born in Siracusa (Sicily), graduated in Oriental Languages and Cultures from the University of Venice; studied Comparative Politics at the University of Waseda (Tokyo) and obtained her MSc in Politics of Asia from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. In London, she worked for All Nippon Airways and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.

In 1999, Renata moved to Barcelona (Spain) where she worked for a decade as Project Coordinator for the think-tank Casa Asia, (Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), coordinating cultural, diplomatic and economic activities to promote relations with Asian countries and especially Japan.

Right after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11th 2011, Renata volunteered in the affected area to give support to the victims of the tsunami.

As a consequence of this impacting experience, Renata established Hasekura2.0, a business exchange and training program for start ups, local authorities and small business, aimed at promoting social innovation between regional Japan and Europe. (www.hasekuraprogram.com)

Counting on the support of various European and Japanese institutions, more than eighty social innovators and regional leaders have participated in the program in the past three years.

Currently, Renata shares her time between Spain and Japan, giving lectures, visiting projects, networking with people directly involved in community-based innovation in Japan and in the reconstruction process of the tsunami affected area. She is also the full time mother of three kids.

Marten Rauschenberg

Starting-up as a German in Shanghai: Ups and Down of an entrepreneurs career made in China, Thursday, May 26th, 10:30-10:50

Moved to Shanghai in 2003, Marten is one of the foreigners that embraced all entrepreneurial opportunities (regardless of the boundaries and challenges existing) early on in China. Founding the 3D-advertising business "The Looop CGI" in 2004, Marten is a hand’s on doer and not afraid of risk taking: He has stories of success as well as challenges to share and most important of how to always focus on potential rather than on problems. His credo: “Where some may see borders and problems, I see opportunities!”.
In 2015 Marten returned to Berlin, and is running a new 3D-business freshly founded in the Czech Republic, while at the same time investigating new entrepreneurial ventures between China and Europe.

Leap Sok

Experiences and challenges in running a system integration startup in Cambodia where the laws and regulations of ICT, copyright, intellectual property are in place, Thursday, May 26th, 14:00-14:30

Leap is a technologist, entrepreneur and community builder who passionates about the ways of ICT development can be used and helped for social and economic upliftment especially for the tech startup communities in Cambodia and ASEAN region. In his professional works, he is a founder and managing director of System Experts, a consultancy startup based in Cambodia providing the open source system integration.

Kalaya Kovidvisith

Roundtable with Startups from Berlin and Asia, Monday, May 23rd, 18:00-19:00
Panellist - Education in tech & entrepreneurship in Asia and Europe, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:00-15:00
Panellist - Odds and risks of internationalisation - And is it always important to scale global or can you even become successful just within one market? Wednesday, May 25th, 16:00-17:00

Kalaya Kovidvisith is Co-founder of FabCafe Bangkok and Managing Director of FABLAB Thailand. She holds Master degree in Design Technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Together with her friends around the world who share the same goal, they started the “FabCafe”. As technology is not merely a tool but a powerful means of creative expression to help and inspire people. The term stands for both “fabulous” and “fabrication” that is unconstrained by mass production and market theory. FabCafe is a space that conveys the FAB spirit in a fun, delicious and user-friendly way. She believe that, with the opening of FabCafe, the creative collaboration that takes place in this cozy setting will transform the next-generation of fabrication.

Her research interests focus on how digital fabrication and biotechnology reinforce the changing relationship in industry and create the new business model for the next design generation. After graduation, she cofounded and manage Xcellent Center for Eco Design Network, the collaborative eco design, Fabrication laboratory (FABLAB), and research development group between public and private sectors.

Jan Lindenberg

Keynote and Think/workshop: "COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN POST GROWTH JAPAN: COLLABORATIVE MAPPING AS A TOOL FOR INTERNATIONAL ECOSYSTEMS CREATION" Thursday, May 26th 14:00-15:30

Jan Lindenberg is a designer and founder of urbanist collective place/making. He is a research associate at IIDj, Institute for Information Design Japan in Tokyo. Having a background in computer engineering and interaction design, his interests are in the intersection of participatory design, information and communication technologies in the context of community design and urban planning. He has organized participatory design workshops and projects in India, Korea, Japan and Germany, with a focus on community mapping and creative forms of public engagement. His research interests are in the field of web- mapping, participatory GIS and public sensing with a special consideration of user experience, aesthetics and narrative factors to facilitate more sustainable and resilient communities.

Stefan Göllner

"Keynote and Think/workshop: "COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN POST GROWTH JAPAN: COLLABORATIVE MAPPING AS A TOOL FOR INTERNATIONAL ECOSYSTEMS CREATION" Thursday, May 26th 14:00-15:30

Stefan Göllner is a Berlin based designer and founder of place/making. He studied landscape planning and communication design in Berlin and Düsseldorf, since 2007 he worked for public and private institutions in European and national innovation and research projects at Academy of Media Arts Cologne, University of the Arts Berlin and Telekom Laboratories / TU-Berlin and Grassroots A&R.; His past work was situated in the context of community mapping, user generated content, design for demographic change, or smart cities. He lead international workshops in the fields of design research and innovation development. His overall interest is in creating design-driven solutions that match today´s global challenges with the peoples´ needs on site, driven by participatory approaches and public engagement.

Ajay Maharjan

Panellist - Refugees and Migration - The tech industry is not only watching but discovers potentials and uses them globally, Thursday, May 26th, 10:15-11:00
Keynote: One year after the earthquake: Rise in Nepal Tech Startup for Rebuilding Community, Thursday, May 26th, 16:00-16:30

Ajay started his carrier as a senior engineer in Robotics Association of Nepal (NGO) for a few years after his graduation, and worked on the same post for Karkhana Private Limited. He loves to innovate and make prototypes and products. His passion led to his own venture, Innovake. It was founded an year ago with the generous support form CAS Trading House, Kathamndu. Ajay is the engine of developing tech startup ecosystem in Kathmandu.

Abhay Pandey

Very alike but different: How Indian and German entrepreneurs are reshaping our future, Wednesday, May 25th 11:30-13:00

Abhay Pandey is a Managing Director with Sequoia Capital in India and spends his time with entrepreneurs who are building exciting consumer and healthcare businesses.
He brings the perspective from 20 years of experience as a consultant with McKinsey & Co, investment banker with Merrill Lynch and investor at Sequoia Capital to help dynamic entrepreneurs build their companies. Abhay is an management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Kerstin Wilde

Promotion of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: How is it done in ASEAN? Thursday, May 26th, 11:30-13:00

Kerstin Wilde has earned her degree in development economics at the University of Hamburg. She is specialised in entrepreneurship promotion, innovation system and organisational development. Her extensive experience in shaping entrepreneurial ecosystems and related HRD-interventions steams from consulting activities as well as her employments with the University of Rostock, Jacobs University Bremen and the University of Leipzig. She has co-authored the GIZ publication “Strengthening Innovation Systems” in 2011 and recently been involved in the development of a guideline-type ASEAN policy document for strengthened university-business cooperation in R&D and innovation.

Peter Rege

Promotion of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: How is it done in ASEAN? Thursday, May 26th, 11:30-13:00

Peter Reger initiated and managed the Info4Innovation project from 2014-2016 as head of the Business Support Desk of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN). Currently, he is a consultant for specific tasks and project developer for KADIN. Previously he worked as team leader in international projects. And from 1993-2001 he was director of the business start-up department of the State Agency for Structure and Labour Brandenburg (LASA Brandenburg GmbH) providing support for about 14.000 new businesses to get started.

Maria Tarnogrocki

Promotion of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: How is it done in ASEAN? Thursday, May 26th, 11:30-13:00

Maria Tarnogrocki studied B.A. (ing.) Business Management in the Netherlands and completed her M.A. in Creativity and Innovation at the Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking, University of Malta. She founded her consulting activity Co-Create.Business 2015. Additionally, she works self-employed as specialist for strategy and innovation at a start-up centre in Berlin. She was part of the Info4Innovation project conducted by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. As external consultant she was responsible for the concept development of the Info4Innovation platform.

Dong Tran

Promotion of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: How is it done in ASEAN? Thursday, May 26th, 11:30-13:00

Dong Tran is the Counsellor in charge of science and technology at the Vietnam Embassy in Berlin, Germany. He holds an M.A in Science, Technology and Society from Linkoping University, Sweden, as well as a Post Graduate Diploma from the International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, India. From 2010 to 2015 he was Deputy Director General of the High Technology Department at the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), Vietnam. His profound experience in Science and Technology Policy stems from various positions at MoST that he has held since 2000 including as a Research Fellow at the National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies (NISTPASS).

Utz Dornberger

Promotion of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: How is it done in ASEAN? Thursday, May 26th, 11:30-13:00

Prof. Dr. Utz Dornberger is the Director of the International SEPT Program (SME Promotion and Training) of Leipzig University. His academic and professional focus lies primarily in innovation management in SMEs, innovation policies, promotion of entrepreneurship and internationalization processes. Currently, he is also the Director of the Self Management Initiative Leipzig (Entrepreneurship Promotion Program) of Leipzig University. Prof. Dornberger is also the founder of in4in-Network (intelligence for innovation) promoting the cooperation between universities worldwide in the fields of technology transfer and entrepreneurship promotion.

Katja Hellkoetter

Workshop Host/Co-Faciliator in coop with Gu Yuan, AHA Impact Accelerator for Change: Beyond Events: How to move from exchange to long-term cooperation? Friday, May 27th, 9:30-11:00
Co-Host/ Faciliator in coop with Naho Iguchi: Circle: Leadership from a different perspective - Sharing Experiences beyond boaders, Thursday, May 26th, 17:00-18:00

Having lived a year China for the first time in 1994, Katja Hellkoetter is a professional with 20 years working experience in Europe-China cooperation building at the interface of business & society. After a career with marketing German Green Tech business in China and as a city representative for Hamburg in Shanghai, she jumped into entrepreneurship and founded the consulting agency CONSTELLATIONS International in Shanghai in 2009, which she now extends to Europe, having choosen Berlin as the new hub for further stretching the mission: designing and facilitating meaningful interactions for learning, leading and collaborating for sustainable futures. Linking people, potential and perspectives. On behalf of the Berlin Ministry of Economics, Technology and Research Katja has also acted as advisory partner for this years Asia-Pacific Weeks’ Connecting Startup Cities Conference.

Constantin Robertz

Roundtable with Startups from Berlin and Asia, Monday, May 23rd, 18:00-19:00
Panel - Odds and risks of internationalisation, Wednesday, May 25th, 16:00-17:00

Constantin is Managing Director of Zalora in the Philippines. Zalora is Asia's leading online fashion destination with localised Ecommerce sites across South-East Asia, and part of Global Fashion Group. Prior to Zalora, Constantin worked for Rocket Internet with stints at Zalando in Berlin and Lamoda in Moskow. Constantin is passionate about venture building, internationalisation and operations, spending the last 3 years across Asia. He graduated in Business Administration from the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland.

Clas Neumann

Keynote: Old meets new: Cooperation with startups from a corporate persepctive, Monday, May 23th, 17:30-18:00

Clas Neumann is the Senior Vice President SAP AG, and the the Head of the of SAP Labs Network since 2009, further more he has been leading the Fast Growth Market Strategy team since 2013. In his role as Labs Head, Neumann acts as the central coordinator of all network activities and reports to Bernd Leukert, member of the SAP Executive Board. In his role as Head Fast Growth Market Strategy he leads the investments for SAP’s growth markets in Africa, China, Middle-East and Russia and reports to Rob Enslin, member of the SAP Executive Board. Neumann joined SAP in February 1995 and played a key role in establishing SAP Labs India in 1998. He co-led SAP Labs India as joint managing director for five years. In May 2007, Neumann was named president of SAP Labs India. He also headed A1S development beginning in January 2005. Neumann has co-authored different books & article son innovation in emerging markets and been recognized through different awards for his engagement in society and business. He also is the India spokesperson in the APA (Asia-Pacific Association of German Industry)and member of different boards and advisory groups to the Governments in Germany, India and China.

Wang Yazhong

Keynote Speaker - Startup 2 Corporate: A Co-Innovation Case Study from China with MathARt, Hamo and SAP - Thursday, May 26th, 16:00-17:00

Project Executive at MATHARTSYS Corporation, where he is responsible for managing a big data platform for the automobile manufacturer Borgward using SAP HAHA + Hadoop. Mr. WANG’s educational background is in Computer Science and Technology (Donghua University, China). MATHART) has the biggest automotive industry big data analysis team in china working with clients in SAIC-GM, jaguar land rover china, FAW-VW etc. Matharts works together with SAP since 2015 and in particular with the SAP CO-Innovatio Lab in China.

Dr. FAN Shi Jun

Keynote Speaker - Startup 2 Corporate Sessio: A Co-Innovation Case Study from China with MathARt, Hamo and SAP - Thursday, May 26th, 16:00-17:00

Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Hamo (Beijing) Technology Co. Ltd, focusing on intelligent technology on animal husbandry and developed international advanced FAN’s intelligent systems. Dr. FAN is an expert and famous scholar in China’s animal husbandry and food industry and has been actively involved in international cooperation for a long time, including recently cooperation with SAP Labs China. Research topics: “Industry 4.0”, “Internet +” and “Intelligent animal husbandry”.

Bruno Bensaid

Fireside Chat: Trends in Investment and Crowd Funding in China - What’s in for Start-ups from Europe and Asia - May 27th, 10:00-11:00

Bruno is the Founder of Shanghaivest, a pioneer cross-border advisory firm between China and Europe/US. Shanghaivest’s landmark deal is the sale of Sagem Wireless, a European Mobile phone OEM, to Consumer Electronics giant TCL Communication (HK: 02618) in 2011. Other deals include AppAnnie’s series A financing or enabling the first China investment of Paris-listed online ad firm, 1000mercis (NYSE-EURONEXT: ALMIL).
Bruno is also Steering Committee Member of Angelvest, the largest angel investors’ group in China (40+ investments since 2008) and mentors startups incubated by programs such as Chinaccelerator or 500startups. Earlier in his career, Bruno headed business development teams of European VC-backed startups, building a strong network in the China mobile and digital industry. He then worked at Ventech (a French VC) in China and later went on to set up Shanghaivest, while continuing to work with startups. Bruno graduated from INSEAD and studied Chinese at East China Normal University. He is a public speaker on M&A;, China Venture Capital, Technology and Innovation.

May Shi

Panelist: ‘The pros and cons of accelerator programs: Powerful Collective or exploited innovation?’ - Friday, May 27th 14:00-15:00

May Shi, Community Manager at Chinaccelerator, is a 2-time entrepreneur. Her first business was founded in 2004, named as LiQiang wholesaler. LiQiang was profitable in 6 month. May and her co-founder did well at that time. Her second business was founded in 2014, her co-founder was head of a law firm in Beijing, name as IPID (International projects investment division). IPID is still alive, but May is no longer part of it. Chinaccelerator is the oldest and #1 software accelerator in China with over 170 mentors helping startups with all aspects of business development. Included in our mentor network are five “experts in residence” that meet with teams weekly to assist in key development areas such as financial modeling, public relations, growth hacking, consumer strategy and fund raising. Twice a year, Chinaccelerator hand picks 10-15 companies from around the world to help build and scale a localized product for a China market, capstoned by an invite only Demo Day of media and high profile investors.

May’s experience co-found two startups and participating in Chinaccelerator’s program helped her understand the value of an acceleratorprogram. May’s responsibilities at Chinaccelerator include program management, organizing events and partnering with local media and famous tech companies such as Amazon, Alibaba and 36Kr to help startups scale in China.

Gift Preekamol Chantaranijakorn

Leadership from Another Perspective, Thursday, May 26th, 17:00-18:00

Gift, Ma:D Club for Better Society founder and managing director, is a passionate social entrepreneur with a vision to build community of commitment and strong movement of social-minded people who really take action to make a better society in their own role. Ma:D aims to create community of learning, sharing and commitment for social entrepreneurs and social-minded people where we all can be friends, and collaborate to create positive social impacts for better society together every day.

Hiroto Kobayashi

Leadership from Another Perspective, Thursday, May 26th, 17:00-17:30

CVO & Founder INFOBAHN INC., Hiroto leads a pioneering digital agency and online media group in Japan. He is also known as the founder of WIRED JAPAN and GIZMODO-JAPAN. He has published and supervised +20 books. He is a professor in BBT university (online MBA in Japan) and lecturing about entrepreneurship. Now he is collaborating with Berlin start-ups in the emerging technology field such as 3D scanning, IoT, VR/AR and Media and taking the lead in the business co-creation between ventures in Berlin and the Japanese market.

Kikuko Yano

Leadership from Another Perspective, Thursday, May 26th, 17:00-17:30

Kikuko Yano is the Media Producer of Infobahn and Mediagene, an independent digital agency and digital media company in Japan. An expert in both print and digital media business, marketing and editing. Co-founder of cafeglobe.com; a career oriented platform for Japanese women. Also a mentor to female entrepreneurs who are involved in various work industries such as apparel, PR, online dating service, and many others.

Max Chen

City government in startup ecosystem - why and how, an example in New Taipei City, Friday, May 27th, 12:30-13:00

Max Chen, Chief at International Affairs Division, Secretariat, New Taipei City Government, heads International Affairs Division at New Taipei City Government, conducting global engagement, consulting and policy events in areas of climate change, green city, sustainable community, and smart city. Before his municipal duty, Max worked with Taiwan’s MOFA projects to apply technology to bridge digital divide and other development issues. He studied international relations in Berlin, Taipei and Vienna, and is working on LLM in technology law.

Harry Hsu

Keynote - Taiwan - A dive into the local startup ecosystem, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:00-14:30

Harry, a Taiwanese scholar, earned his Master Degree in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge in United Kingdom. He was a well known Television News Presenter in the Greater China Region, specialising in issues of technology, start up trends, and global politics. Harry is also actively participating at various columns in different Asian media. He also serves as the advisor for the Taiwanese government as well as WorkFace, one of the most influential business professional's societies in the Greater China Region.

Harry has currently launched his career at iTutorGroup as the Branding and PR director in TutorABC. The company is recognised as the leading online education platform in the world. It offers TutorMing for Chinese Learning, VIPABC, vipabc Jr, TutorABC and TutorABCJr for English learning.

In 2014, the company raised $100 million in strategic funding from Alibaba, Temasek Holdings, and Qiming Venture Partners. Then in the end of 2015, it announced a Series C equity financing of approximately $200 million, while the investment valued iTutorGroup at over $1 billion, and the new investors include GIC, Singapore’s sovereign fund; the Russia-China Investment Fund (RCIF); Goldman Sachs; and Silverlink Capital LP.

Marc Wohlrabe

Panellist - "Japan Town Project Berlin: 21st century urban development", Thursday, May 26th 16:30-17:30

Marc, born in Berlin, studied World Heritage Management (M.A.) at the University of Cottbus with special interest in marine management, sustainable fisheries and historic urban landscapes. He has been for 15 years an entrepreneur in film distribution and publishing (FLYER city magazine) and has worked in Japan, USA and several years in Mexico. Today he works as an independent consultant and fundraising specialist for heritage, conference management and creative 'free space' concepts as well culture projects. He was a member of the General Assembly of the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce and 'partner- shareholder' of the Berlin marketing institution "Partner für Berlin". Also he is a founding member of Clubcommission Berlin (2000) and served as first press speaker (till 2003). He is an elected board member of Clubcommission and works for the urban development working group and political contacts. Marc Wohlrabe supports the civil protests for a more sensible development of the last remains of the Berlin Wall and the East Side Gallery.
[email protected]

Jason Hsu

Keynote - Taiwan - A dive into the local startup ecosystem, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:00-14:30

In 2016, Jason Hsu is elected as a member of the Legislative Yuan of Republic of China. Given his experience, he is fully aware that Taiwan cannot thrive without cooperating with other countries. Now with his new role, he is able to have more influence and work with cross-party alliances to advance issues that concern Taiwan’s future.

In 2008 Jason co-founded The Big Questions, a consultancy that focuses social innovation and launched Big Questions Conference to bring together leaders from all fields to engage in conversations and actions for sustainable future. In 2009 he introduced TED program to Taiwan and became curator of TEDxTaipei and has been serving as TEDx Ambassador for Asia since 2011. At the same time Jason is not stopping his journey of learning. In 2013 he received scholarship to study at Amsterdam School of Creative Leadership which broadens his scope of innovation in public administration. In 2015 he was again chosen to attend Executive Program at Singularity University, a futurist institute founded by Google and NASA, where he learned about exponential technology.

Keiichiro (Kay) Yano

Same, same but different – the culture of digital communications in China, Japan and Germany, Wednesday, May 25th, 15:00-15:30

Keiichiro (Kay) Yano, is Business Development Manager for Japan Business at Storymaker based in Berlin. Kay has 10 years of experience in B2B Marketing/Sales, Business Development in the cloud computing field and entrepreneurship at Google and salesforce.com in Tokyo. He spent 3 years in Berlin in his youth and studied at University of Hamburg. Kay holds a MBA from IE (Instituto de Empresa) Business School.

Takuma Iwasa

Fireside Chat: Interview of 2 founders from Europe and Asia - Daily dose of entrepreneurs life - insights in differences and similarities on the 2 continents. Which challenges do each of them face? Do they vary strong on these 2 markets? Wednesday, May 25th, 12:30-13:00

Takuma has 12 years experience in 'connected' consumer electronics as a product planner. He worked at Panasonic between 2003 to 2007, then founded start-up company Cerevo Inc in 2008 and is currently the CEO of Cerevo. Cerevo is focused on creating 'connected' hardware and related apps a.k.a. IoT.

Christian Herzog

Opening Talk // Welcome – Introduction, Wednesday, May 25th, 9:30-11:00

Christian Herzog is the first point of contact at Berlin Partner for startups, investors, business angels and upscaling companies being interested in Berlin. Over the last 4 years, he has grown the capital into a “Berlin Start Alliance” aiming to strengthen the cooperation between Berlin and other international startup hubs, such as NYC, Tel Aviv, Shanghai and Paris. Christian holds the position of Head of Division Digital Business and drives the development of Berlin as an internationally known place to be for startups and breeding ground for innovation in the area of Smart Cities, ICT, Media, Creative Industries and Service Industries.

Koen Lenssen

Panellist - Korea’s Change from a Conglomerate- to a Start-Up-Nation: A Comparison of the Korean and German Start-Up Scene, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:00-13:00

Koen Lenssen is investment manager with Tengelmann Ventures since 2011. He has over ten years of operational and investment expertise working in the fields of corporate development, M&A; and venture capital with Sony, Endemol and Axel Springer. He gained early experience in the Internet industry as an analyst with Cisco Systems and OmniSky International where he was part of the team that launched the first mobile ISP in Europe.
Koen Lenssen earned a master's degree in management from the Rotterdam School of Management and HEC Paris and a master's degree in economics from the College of Europe in Warsaw.

Dr. Matthias von Bismarck-Osten

The Berlin Start-Up Ecosystem: The Contribution of the Local Business Development Bank, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:30-12:15

Economist (Diploma Universitiy Freiburg, Doctorate University of Munich).
Research Fellow Stiftung Wissenschaft & Politik; Policy Planning Staff of the German Foreign Office. Banker European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, MC Securities, Landesbank Berlin. Since 2006 Head of Banking Department, Investitionsbank Berlin; Chair of Supervisory Board IBB-Beteiligungsgesellschaft. Honorary Post: Chair Oxfam Germany.

Prof. Peter Ruge

Moderator - Workshop: Becoming an university entrepreneur - Startups as Spin offs, Monday May 25th, 11:30-13:00
Participant - Workshop: Architecture for incubators - how to build sustainable work-life places for startups, Wednesday May 25th, 14:00-15:30

Prof. Peter Ruge teaches sustainable design at Dessau Institute of Architecture and at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou. He is running an international architectural and urban planning office located in Berlin with a focus on the sustainable optimization of existing properties, energy-efficient new buildings and holistic urban planning designs. He has planned and implemented pilot projects in Europe and China, such as LTD-1, the Polish Aviation Museum, Passive House Bruck, Green Health City, which are sustainably certified by the DGNB, PLGBC, LEED, EDGE, China Greenstar and have been awarded national and international prizes.

Dr. Yi Wang

Participant - Workshop: Becoming an university entrepreneur - Startups as Spin offs, Monday May 25th, 11:30-13:00
Moderator - Workshop: Architecture for incubators - how to build sustainable work-life places for startups, Wednesday May 25th, 14:00-15:30

As consultant and researcher, Dr. Wang has engaged in a number of Sino-German technical cooperation and international development projects covering various sectors of Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Energy and Social Development. Her 15 years of working experiences include, e.g., as coordinator for GIZ “Sino-German Cooperation of Forestry for Sustainable Development”, with a consortium of four Chinese and five European organizations, and, as technical consultant for Asia Development Bank’s Energy Project on area of Project Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (PPMS). She has also worked as short-term social and environmental expert of the World Bank for Bank’s investment in China for sustainable development.

Dr. Wang received a M.Sc. on International Forestry and Natural Resource Management in 2005, and Ph.D on Environmental and Forestry Policy in 2010, from the Faculty of Environmental Science, Technical University of Dresden, Germany.

Dipl. Ing. Nadine Zhang (Zhang Lei)

Moderator - Workshop: Becoming an university entrepreneur - Startups as Spin offs, Monday May 25th, 11:30-13:00
Participant - Workshop: Architecture for incubators - how to build sustainable work-life places for startups, Wednesday May 25th, 14:00-15:30

Owner of Hexun Consulting and board member "City Culture International e.V. (SKI)"

Architect (China), studied architecture at the "Tongji" University in Shanghai and interior design at the "China Academy of Art" in Hangzhou "; She worked as a lecturer at the "School of Architecture Zhejiang" and as chief interior designer in Hangzhou. 2000 she moved to Germany-Berlin; organized a Sino-German double degree (B.A.) for university studies; Registered 2010 by BAFA and 2013by dena. 2010 TÜV certified energy consultant. For many years now she organizes Sino-German exchange programs, particularly for public services and companies in the areas of: green building, energy saving, environmental technology and professional training. She understands herself as a bridge between the two countries. In the Asian Pacific Weeks 2015 Hexun has partnered with ICLEI, to conceptualize and initiate the event "1st Sustainable Urban Development in China".

Dr. Ing. Beate Wolf

Moderator - Workshop: Architecture for incubators - how to build sustainable work-life places for startups, Wednesday May 25th, 14:00-15:30

Owner of GREEN BUILDING BERLIN and member of "City Culture International e.V. (SKI)"

Architect, graduate engineer in architecture at the Technical University of Stuttgart; PhD at the Institute of Industrial Technical University of Vienna, interdisciplinary work between business administration, architecture and occupational psychology “Architecture - Identity - Corporate success”. Since 2002 Freelance consultant for holistic building including an interdisciplinary network of architects and engineers; expert for Corporate Identity, Life cycle efficiency; personal experience as a start up and entrepreneur. First project in China in a German-Chinese planning team for Siemens Erlangen 1987, since 2002 various lectures for Chinese delegations of engineers, authorities and teachers about energy, energy efficiency and green building in Berlin and as invited expert from Germany in China.

Thomas Andersen

Participant - Workshop: Becoming an university entrepreneur - Startups as Spin offs, Monday May 25th, 11:30-13:00

Thomas Andersen studied Business Administration at Berlin´s Free University (FU) with special subjects Marketing and Organization. He worked for over 22 years as Marketing and Sales Manager in the FMCG industry and founded his own business consultancy Andersen Marketing KG in 2004. Here his clients are founders, startups and SMEs who need support writing business plans or pitch decks. He is an agile networker and board member and event organizer – therefore he can often act as a matchmaker for startups in need of seed capital or cooperation partners.

Dr. Gi Won On

Panellist - Korea’s Change from a Conglomerate- to a Start-Up-Nation: A Comparison of the Korean and German Start-Up Scene, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:00-13:00

Dr. Gi Won On played a major role in establishing a bridgehead in research and innovation cooperation between Korea and the EU and was until recently president of the Korean Innovation Center Europe in Brussels. KIC Europe supports Korean startups and SMEs as well as research institutes which are interested in the cooperation with Europe. He was founder of Trubicon Engineering and is a recognized expert and technical advisor in the fields of IT integration and smart software systems. During his scientific career at Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD as well as at Darmstadt University of Technology he held several positions managing research projects, also international joint Korean-German/European projects. His areas of work included manufacturing systems, augmented reality technology, information assurance technology, 3D GIS, 3D streaming and distributed multimedia systems.
Dr. Gi Won On holds a doctor degree (Dr.-Ing.) in Computer Science from Darmstadt University of Technology.

Ludolf Ebner-Chung

Panellist - Korea’s Change from a Conglomerate- to a Start-Up-Nation: A Comparison of the Korean and German Start-Up Scene, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:00-13:00

Ludolf Ebner-Chung is a German-Korean entrepreneur active in the offline-to-online sector. He founded and is currently serving as the CEO of ”naldo”, an online B2B realtime delivery startup in Seoul. Prior to that he was the founder and CEO of ”Yogiyo”, the leading Korean online food-ordering service and subsidiary of Delivery Hero.
Ludolf has a long track-record in various high-tech industries in Korea working for companies such as NCSoft, CDNetworks and LG Electronics. He started his career at McKinsey & Company’s Berlin office and has a M.A. in Japanese Studies from Berlin's Free University. He is fluent in German, Korean, English and Japanese.

Bernard Moon

Panellist - Korea’s Change from a Conglomerate- to a Start-Up-Nation: A Comparison of the Korean and German Start-Up Scene, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:00-13:00

Bernard Moon is a Co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Global Ventures and of SparkLabs, a startup accelerator in Korea. Previously, he was Co-founder & CEO of Vidquik, a web conferencing & sales solutions platform and Co-founder & VP of Business Development of GoingOn Networks, a social media platform for companies. He headed their product development when Business Week recognized them in their "Best of the Web" list. Bernhard Moon held management positions with the Lunsford Group, a private investment firm and earlier with IRG, a leading boutique investment bank in Asia.
He is a frequent guest writer to various technology journals and has been published in leading American daily newspapers. He is one of 8 global judges for the innovation contest of Électricité de France, the world's biggest electricity producer.

He completed a post-graduate fellowship with the Coro Foundation and received his MPA in Telecom and New Media Policy from Columbia University.

Prof. Dr. Niels Pinkwart

Panellist - Korea’s Change from a Conglomerate- to a Start-Up-Nation: A Comparison of the Korean and German Start-Up Scene, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:00-13:00

Professor Dr. Niels Pinkwart heads the research group on "Computer Science Education / Computer Science and Society" at Humboldt University in Berlin. Previously he held positions at TU Clausthal, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Duisburg-Essen. His areas of work include digital media and technologies supporting human learning, co-operation, communication, and social interaction.
Within the German Computer Science Association he is currently co-chair of the working group on Learning Analytics and member of the steering committees of the sections on eLearning and on Social Computing.

Andrea Joras

Panellist - Korea’s Change from a Conglomerate- to a Start-Up-Nation: A Comparison of the Korean and German Start-Up Scene, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:00-13:00

Andrea Joras is Managing Director of Berlin Partner for Business and Technology, Berlin’s business and technology development agency, since 2015. The agency supports companies to launch, innovate, expand and secure their economic future in Berlin. Before she held several management positions in development cooperation with Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) in Germany, Middle East and Eastern Europe. She started her career in managing EU funded projects for KPMG and in consulting the Estonian Ministry of Finance on public finances.
She holds a Diploma of Business Mathematics from the University of Karlsruhe.

Paul Schwarzenholz

Panellist - Korea’s Change from a Conglomerate- to a Start-Up-Nation: A Comparison of the Korean and German Start-Up Scene, Wednesday, May 25th, 11:00-13:00

Paul Schwarzenholz, the co-founder of Flaconi is exiting the business and starting a new venture. The premium online shop for beauty products, selling luxury brand fragrances, skin care and make-up products was founded by him together with a fellow student in 2010. It grew to 33 Million Euro revenues and more than 200 employees and was successfully sold in 2015 to ProSiebenSat.1. Paul Schwarzenholz started his professional career in consulting at the leading strategy consulting company Bain & Company.
He earned a master‘s degree in management (M.Sc.) from the Leipzig Graduate School of Management.

Rami Rihawi

Panel - Refugees and Migration - The tech industry is not only watching but discovers potentials and uses them globally, Thursday, May 26th, 10:15-11:00

Rami Rihawi is an informatics engineer student who studied two years in Syria and as a newcomer to Germany he is learning the language so that he continues his studies at Tu berlin. He is a programmer and has experience in c++, java, javascript, ruby on rails, node.js, Css, mongodb, meteor and made two websites and a small game.
He speaks English, German, Arabic.

Niklas Jansen

Fireside Chat: Interview of 2 founders from Europe and Asia - Daily dose of entrepreneurs life, Wednesday, May 25th, 12:30-13:00

Niklas Jansen is co-founder and managing director of Blinkist. He has had a lifelong passion for entrepreneurship, learning, technology, design, and nature. He co-founded Blinkist with a vision of creating meaningful products that enable people to achieve their personal and professional goals and live more productive, happier lives. Niklas drives product development, strategy, and ensures Blinkist culture is flourishing.

Nadine Bruder

Leadership from Another Perspective Thursday, May 26th, 17:00-18:00

Nadine is a brand, product and experience strategist by heart with 10+ years of international consulting work. She helps C-level managers of lifestyle brands to harness digital/mobile technologies for business buy-ins and she brings sexiness to technology companies. Furthermore, she consults businesses on innovation and change strategies and facilitates their executions. She currently sets up a coding academy in Berlin that provides immersive, short-term engineering/developer programs in order to empower people to start or improve their career in technology. Nadine is also mentor to startups in Europe and the US, and manages an international network of marketing and digital technologies experts.

Andreas Foidl

Japan Town Project Berlin: 21st century Urban Development - Thursday, May 26th, 16:30-17:30

With his background in business administration, Andreas Foidl has rethought, reshaped and rescaled a number of mid- and large-scale private and state-owned companies in the past. On his 30 year carrier path he has worked in an international auditing company (Arthur Andersen & Co. GmbH), remodeled a real estate development firm as CFO (Specker Bauten AG) and was the commercial and real estate manager of the Berlin Airports (TXL, SXF, THF) before he became MD for 11 years of the Berlin Wholesale Market GmbH. This year he joined the urban development organization Belius where he is head of finance, working closely between bottom-up and top-down projects in culture-, smart-, creative- and tech-industries.

Eva Puchala

Programmes and measures for creating a favorable environment for start-ups in Asia and Germany. Support for start-ups in Singapore, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:20-15:30

Based in Berlin since 2014, Ms Eva Puchala is specialized in advising German SMEs on business activities in the Asia-Pacific region. She is representing the AHK Singapore and Philippines and cooperating with further Chambers in Asia-Pacific. Her expertise in the Asian markets as well as Chamber services is based on her working experience within the German Chamber Network since 9 years. After graduating as an Economist from LMU in Munich, Ms Eva Puchala was based in Singapore for 6 years (2008-2013). As the Head of the trade promotion department at the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Singapore), she was actively supporting SMEs entering the Singaporean and Asian markets. Her activities allowed her to grow an extensive network with connections to various industries, organizations, multipliers and decision makers in Asia-Pacific as well as in Germany.

Dr. Michael Prange

Moderator - First Blue Planet Water Dialogues 2016 – Start-ups in the water sector, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:00-18:00

Dr. Michael Prange is General Manager of German Water Partnership (GWP), which is the central coordination and contact office of the German water sector for international activities. It is a joint initiative of the German private and public sectors, combining commercial enterprises, government and non-government organizations, scientific institutions and water-related associations. The German head office is located in Berlin and the network of 350 members is supported by five federal ministries of the German government. The fundamental aim is to make the outstanding German engineering know-how and more than 150 years of experience in the German water sector easily available to partners and clients all over the world.
Michael holds an MSc in Physics as well as an MSc in Informatics from Kiel University. Michael is a Doctor of Engineering from Hamburg University of Technology where he is a lecturer for Entrepreneurship and Technology Management with focus on Green Technologies. Michael brings in more than 25 years of experience to GWP as an entrepreneur in the fields of IT, software
development, communication systems and automation technology as well as a consultant in the
fields of infrastructure solutions, energy systems, industrial communication and business
development. He further brings in his personal networks from various honorary positions in the
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Economic Council, different business associations and scientific institutions as well as an advisor to the German parliament.

Dr. Henning Heppner

Innovation in the water sector:Best-practice examples of start-ups. SMART WINS – Where intelligence meets water, Wednesday, May 25th, 16:20-18:00

Dr. Henning Heppner is Founder and Shareholder of several Start-up companies in the field of Environmental Technologies. Previously, he has been working in the senior management level
for many years within leading international Automotive Electronics and System Suppliers such as
Siemens, Huf Group and Continental AG. Dr. Heppner was responsible for large, multinational
Business Divisions and successfully acquired and integrated Companies in Russia, South Korea
and USA. He owns a PhD in Business Administration of the University of the Federal Armed
Forces Munich and a Master Degree in Industrial Engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology.

Eva Osterwalder

Innovation in the water sector: Best-practice examples of start-ups
From fundamental research to market application – the ARSOlux Biosensor for water analytics, Wednesday, May 25th, 16:20-18:00

Eva Osterwalder holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and two Master Degrees in Sustainable Development and Technical Management. She works for the Aquacheck GmbH on water analytics tools and the Lavaris Technologies GmbH on waste water treatment and lake restoration. Further, Ms. Osterwalder is guest scientist at the Department of Environmental Microbiology of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig. Over the past years
Ms. Osterwalder gained considerable experience in market introduction of innovative
technologies in less-equipped and transitional countries, especially in Asian countries such as India, China and Nepal.

Jörn-Hendrik Müller-Bornemann

Programmes and measures for creating a favorable environment for start-ups in Asia and Germany. Lab of Tomorrow: cooperation & innovation for challenges in emerging countries, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:20-15:30

Joern-Hendrik Mueller-Bornemann is a member of GIZ Private Sector Cooperation Group. Based in Berlin, the team offers innovation workshops to German/European Companies on challenges from emerging markets, called Lab of Tomorrow, in order to support them to identify new business opportunities - mobilising and motivating investors. He received his Diplomkaufmann, equivalent to an M.B.A., from the Free University of Berlin. He has a strong background in Banking and Financial Services, with experience in micro-finance as well as in the corporate banking industry. He started his carrier as a management consultant with Mercer Management Consulting (today Oliver Wyman) in organizational development and strategy, on various projects with a focus on banking industry, financial services and public sector. He gained long term experience in the international development cooperation as Technical adviser to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry (Namibia) and as Program Manager “SME Development” in Namibia and worked successfully in the field of SME development, SME finance, promotion of entrepreneurship, development of business associations and policy design and implementation. As the head of sales department and head of main branch in the packaging industry he also worked for a SME in Germany. He is married with two daughters.

Wolfgang Genthe

Innovation in the water sector: Best-practice examples of start-ups
Solutions for the safety of water – the development of innovative measurement systems Wednesday, May 25th, 16:20-18:00

Wolfgang Genthe, 64 years old, chemist, doctorates in natural sciences and engineering sciences, professor at Hebei University of Environmental Engineering, China, has worked as laboratory manager for 5 years, consultant of the Italian environmental authorities and companies for 9 years, and has been R&D; manager at LAR for 12 years. There he is also head of the water monitoring projects, among others in Vietnam, China and Uzbekistan.

Philipp Otter

Innovation in the water sector: Best-practice examples of start-ups. An innovative start-up approach in the water sector: decentralised, energetically self-sufficient drinking water treatment and supply for Asia, Wednesday, May 25th, 16:20-18:00

Philipp Otter holds an M.Sc. in Environmental and Renewable Energy Engineering with expertise in the field of sustainable water treatment technologies for developing regions. As project coordinator at AUTARCON he is responsible for research and development, system implementation and international relations. Since AUTARCONs spin-off from the University of Kassel in 2010, he has conducted water supply projects worldwide e.g. in rural India, Nepal, Tanzania and Egypt. His field-experience has shaped the technological and economic development of AUTARCON and its products. With AUTARCON he is part of the organizing committee of the “International Conference on Solar Energy Solutions for Electricity and Water supply in rural areas” in Cairo and winner of the “IWU Award for innovation in Climate and Environment 2013” and the “Intersolar Award 2011”.

Katja Richter

Innovation in the water sector: Best-practice examples of start-ups. Importance of start-ups in pushing forward innovation in the water sector Wednesday, May 25th, 16:20-18:00

Dipl.-Kffr. Katja Richter M.A. studied at University of Potsdam as well as Freie Universität Berlin where she earned her Diplom Kauffrau degree in business administration and economics in 2007, after which she took a position as a start-up and entrepreneur counsellor at the University of Applied Science Potsdam. Consecutively she completed her Master of Arts degree in mediation and conflict management in 2011. As part of a transnational project she became a member of a European network of entrepreneurship consultants, coaches and researchers where she often leads workshops and shares her expertise in how to support entrepreneurs in finding and building their own businesses.

Dr. Sebastian Wieczorek

Startup 2 Corporate: A Co-Innovation Case Study from China with MathARt, Hamo and SAP, Thursday, May 26th, 16:00-17:00

Dr. Sebastian Wieczorek, Director of Startup Engagement at SAP, provides insights into how corporates are looking at startups, what their goals and expectations are and what challenges they are facing. The session will cover a broad range of interaction patterns of corporates engaging with startups, ranging from positioning products, providing technology, scouting for partners, to identifying investment and acquisition targets. Attendees will leave the session with a deeper understanding of what to expect from interacting with corporates and how to engage successfully. If you are running a startup business, your future success depends on developing strong and meaningful partnerships with corporates.

Moritz Eckert

From hubs to hubris – how to design pro-growth entrepreneurship, Friday, May 27th, 11:30-12:30

Moritz Eckert, carried out his civil service with the rescue service of the german red cross, successfully broke off his studies in sociology, contemporary history and african studies in berlin, copywriter with jung von matt in hamburg, cofounder and board member of betterplace.org, where he is responsible for strategy, pr and it, inventor and founder of the first football commentator site in the world, now in the betterplace lab.

Anushka Wijesinha

From hubs to hubris – how to design pro-growth entrepreneurship, Friday, May 27th, 11:30-12:30

Anushka Wijesinha is a development economist with a track record of high quality research and policy influence. He counts 10 year of experience and involvement in industrial policy with a focus on innovation, SMEs, competitiveness and economic governance. Anushka is currently the Chief Economist at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and is also a member of several high-level ministerial taskforces and advisory committees. He has published and interviewed in local and international media, followed widely on Twitter and Blog. Anushka holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Development from University of Leeds Business School, Unite Kingdom.

Kamini Issar-Ernst

Programmes and measures for creating a favorable environment for start-ups in Asia and Germany: Measures and programmes for start-ups in India, Wednesday, May 25th, 14:20-15:30

Kamini Issar-Ernst is a Senior Director at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and represents FICCI in Germany.
Prior to this, she has had over 24 years of experience in Senior Management in Germany, with a focus on Strategic Planning and New Market Development. She has worked in International Project Management, Brand-building and Marketing across continental Europe, and initiated Indo-German collaborations in diverse sectors.
Her current focus includes Infrastructure Development, Startup and Innovation activities especially in ICT and Skill Development initiatives in India. Mrs. Issar-Ernst has an Executive Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Illinois & the WHU, Vallendar, and a Masters in International Business Administration from the IIFT in New Delhi.