Speakers of the Decarbon Days 2025 (A–Z)
From science YouTube stars to top politicians and scientists to the most successful startups in the industry – here’s an insight into our speaker lineup (A–Z). Around 30 personalities await you, which we’ll be announcing here gradually:
Adi Roesch
Chairman of the LEAG Executive Board
As an experienced manager with a vast amount of expertise in the energy and construction business, it is Adi Roesch who is to position LEAG for the transformation of the energy landscape in Germany and the German government’s new power plant strategy. He was most recently CEO of Köster Holding SE, one of Germany’s leading construction companies, and previously held several management positions at General Electric and the Alstom Group, most recently as Head of Power Plant Services for Central Europe and as Spokesman of the Management Board of General Electric GmbH and member of the Management Board of GE Power AG.
Alexandra Decker
CEMEX Executive Board member
Alexandra Decker has been with the global building materials manufacturer CEMEX since 2017. She initially held various positions in the area of Management Public Affairs before becoming a member of the Executive Board in 2023. She is therefore now jointly responsible for the implementation of the company’s “Future in Action” strategy presented in 2021. As part of this strategy, far-reaching efforts are being made on the path to CO₂-neutrality, including the development of sustainable products and solutions, the reduction of the CO₂-footprint in the companies factories and research into new technologies in collaboration with partners.
Dr Anna Meincke
State Chancellery of Lower Saxony
Dr Anna Meincke is a proven expert in the field of economic and social transformation. With a doctorate in social sciences, she has worked intensively on regional competition and the dynamics of its development. Since May 2025, Dr. Meincke has headed the Transformation Unit at the State Chancellery of Lower Saxony, where she focuses on accelerating processes for the economy, ramping up net zero technologies and promoting development potential, among other things. She previously held the same position at the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport and Building.
Dr Beate Baron
Head of Decarbonization BMWK
Since 2010, Dr Baron, who holds a doctorate in law, has gained extensive professional experience in the field of energy. For instance, she held four different positions as a consultant in the field until 2018: first for energy law at the BMWi, then for energy policy at the Directorate-General for Energy in the European Commission and later again for energy policy – including industrial policy – at the BMWK. She still works there today, now – after a position as head of the sub-department for decarbonization, climate and environmental protection in industry as head of the industrial policy department.
Bernd Loose
Managing Director Actemium BEA GmbH
After studying electrical engineering, specializing in propulsion technology, at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg from 1983 to 1986, Bernd Loose first worked for almost eight years in various areas of production and power supply at LEAG and then for almost 20 years at BEA Elektrotechnik und Automatisierung GmbH, where he was most recently head of a department within the Vinci Energies (VE) Deutschland structure. He then became Managing Director of Actemium BEA GmbH, a position he has held for almost 12 years. Bernd Loose is also part of the Foreign Trade Committee of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Carsten Jacob
Managing Director Euroregion Spree-Neisse-Bober
Carsten Jacob is Managing Director of the German office of the Spree-Neisse-Bober Euroregion and is therefore responsible in particular for coordination between the 34 German members – primarily municipalities, but also economic and social partners, associations and clubs, educational institutions and private individuals – as well as consultation with the Polish office and the 57 Polish members. He is therefore centrally responsible for cross-border cooperation, the promotion of an international mindset, the European idea, partnership work, public relations and project management (e.g. for the INTERREG program’s small project fund).
Dr Christian Ehler
MEP for Brandenburg
Dr Christian Ehler can look back on a long entrepreneurial and political career, but his work as an MEP for Brandenburg since 2004 is particularly noteworthy in connection with the Decarbon Days. Since 2014, he has been a full member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, where he not only significantly developed and revised the Net Zero Industry Act, but was also the driving force behind the concept of Net Zero Valleys and considered Lusatia from the very beginning. He also played a decisive role in its implementation and, together with zwei helden GmbH, provided the ideas for the Decarbon Days.
Chuma Francis Kanis
Operations Director HY2GEN
The former competitive athlete from Lusatia has been developing the Jangada project for over two years, as part of which a plant for the production of SAF is being built on the Green Areal Lausitz. His experience comes from mechanical and plant engineering, special machine construction and industrial automation. His focus is on regional management in Lusatia and Eastern Germany. His responsibilities include technical development, approval procedures, as well as representing clients and the commissioning of production facilities, in particular for the production of renewable hydrogen and derivatives.
Photo: Andreas Franke
Czeslaw Fiedorowicz
Chairman of the Spree-Neisse-Bober Euroregion
Czeslaw Fiedorowicz graduated with a degree in Engineering from the University of Zielona Góra in 1986 and was subsequently active in the voivodeship administration and in various positions as a politician. For example, he was mayor of Gubin from 1990 to 1998. In addition, Czeslaw Fiedorowicz initiated the Spree-Neisse-Bober Euroregion in 1993, for which he is still active as chairman and in the context of which he was also awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Brandenburg for his commitment to German-Polish cooperation – and was involved for many years in the EU programs to promote the border region (Interreg).
Daniel Keller
Minister of Economics Brandenburg
In addition to his enthusiasm for sport, which has even led him to the position of President of the German Judo Federation, Daniel Keller has long been involved in politics. After joining the SPD in 2008, his position as a member of the city council in Potsdam from 2015 to 2024 should be mentioned in particular, after which his next step was to join the Brandenburg state parliament in 2019. There he first acted as parliamentary managing director, then as a member of the executive committee and chairman of the parliamentary group – and today as Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy and Climate Protection.
Dr Harry Lehmann
Director of the PtX Lab Lausitz
Dr Harry Lehmann, who holds a doctorate in physics, has his roots in elementary particle and numerical physics. He later moved into applied environmental research with studies on climate change. Back in the 1990s, he wrote scenarios for a 100 per cent renewable energy supply. He is the editor and co-author of numerous publications and has taught at various universities since 1985. He currently heads the PtX Lab Lausitz, which aims to make Power-to-X (PtX) products ready for the market. As a member of the Club of Rome, he is also one of around 150 thought leaders for sustainable development worldwide.
Hauke Lüdders
Airbus Head of Fuel Cell Propulsion
Hauke Lüdders established his first connection with Airbus during his studies at the Technical University of Hamburg by writing his doctoral thesis for the aerospace company. He then joined Airbus as a senior architect. This was followed by various positions such as technical and senior project manager, after which he finally became head of system development for fuel cell propulsion systems. Convinced by the future of sustainable energy sources in aviation, he has been part of the Airbus ZEROe team from the very beginning and has contributed significantly to its design.
Heiko Witte
Managing Director of CHESCO GmbH
The graduate mechanical engineer worked at Rolls-Royce Germany from 1997 to 2023, where he held various management positions, including in the areas of engine testing, product development, digitalization and business development. As Head of Engineering Improvement and Quality between 2009 and 2019, he led strategic improvement initiatives and was responsible for numerous digitalization and Industry 4.0 projects. Since May 2023, he has been contributing his broad experience as Managing Director of CHESCO GmbH – Center for Hybrid-Electric Systems Cottbus.
Jacob Beautemps
aka Breaking Lab, Science-YouTuber
With over 850 videos, 666,000 subscribers and 140 million views, Jacob Beautemps aka Breaking Lab is one of Germany’s biggest science YouTubers. He takes a particularly close look at current developments in the field of green industry & cleantech – whether in conversation with (former) Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck, on a trip to the fracking areas of the USA or by looking at scientific studies on the energy transition. The young scientist is also active in various TV formats on ARD, RTL, SWR & Co. such as the documentary series “Science for Future”.
Jakob Flechtner
Head of KEI Cottbus
Jakob Flechtner has headed the Competence Center for Climate Protection in Energy-Intensive Industries since July 2024. Prior to this, he was head of department at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce for a good ten years, where he was responsible for environmental law, energy infrastructure and climate protection policy, among other things. At the DIHK, he also set up the “Climate Protection Business Network”, which has around 1,000 member companies. He has also been a volunteer board member of the Association for Sustainability and Environmental Management e.V. since 2022. Flechtner began his career in 2008 as head of an MEP’s office at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Photo: KEI, Steffen Rasche
Dr Jakob Pohlisch
Head of the Energie-Innovationszentrum Cottbus
Dr Jakob Pohlisch works at BTU as Head of Innovation, Management and Communication at the Energie-Innovationszentrum (EIZ). Before joining the team in 2023, he was an assistant professor for entrepreneurship and innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and a research assistant at the Technical University of Berlin. He also previously completed his dissertation on open and distributed innovation and his bachelor’s degree at the latter, while completing his master’s degree at Humboldt University in Berlin, during which he also co-founded a start-up developing products for highly automated driving.
Jan Taschenberger
COO New Green Power & Gas, Uniper SE
The engineer specialized in complex energy systems can look back on a 25-year career in the energy sector, which he began at the Fraunhofer Institute, continued at E.ON in various management roles and is now continuing at the Uniper spin-off Uniper SE, where he has been contributing his in-depth industry knowledge and strategic foresight as COO New Green Power & Gas since the beginning of 2024 and is responsible for the decarbonization of the electricity and gas portfolio – with the aim of positioning Europe’s leading energy supplier as a leading player in the European energy transition.
Janet Jurk
HR Manager Digital Innovation DB AG
Janet Jurk has been working as a human resources manager in Lusatia since 2007 – for companies such as Arvato, Bertelsmann and Deutsche Bahn. In her role as HR manager and member of plant management at the maintenance depot in Cottbus, which will be the largest and most modern of its kind at DB, she has played a key role in shaping structural change in the region. Her commitment not only contributes to the mobility turnaround and climate protection, but also to creating and securing jobs in Lusatia. As an experienced and passionate manager, she uses her expertise in a targeted manner to promote the economic and social development of the region in the long term.
Jens Warnken
President of the IHK Cottbus
In the past, the qualified business economist worked at Sachsenmilch AG in Leppersdorf and Papierfabrik Hamburger Spremberg GmbH & Co. KG, two of the largest companies in Lusatia. Since 2012, he has been Managing Director of airkom Druckluft GmbH in Wildau, which is spezialized in the construction of compressed air and industrial cooling systems. Familiar with the economy of the region like few others, he was elected President of the IHK Cottbus in 2022 and has since represented the overall interests of the economy in the chamber area, which includes the districts of LDS, EE, SPN and OSL as well as Cottbus.
Jess Ralston
Head of Energy ECIU
The ECIU – Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit – is a UK NGO that contributes to an informed debate on energy and climate change issues. Jess Ralston joined the organisation in 2020 as an energy analyst and is now Head of Energy – specialising in renewable and green energy policy and technology. She previously worked for Ecuity Consulting LLP , where she focused on energy policy and communications, and for the Sustainable Energy Association, where she was a policy advisor specialising in energy efficiency and low-carbon heating.
Julian Brüning
Representative of the Brandenburg parliament
Since joining the CDU in 2013, the young politician has been active in numerous fields. Today, he is a member of the Brandenburg state parliament, which he entered again via the state list in 2024 after 2019. In addition to the Committee on Agriculture, Food, Environment and Consumer Protection, he is currently also a member of the Special Committee on Structural Development in Lusatia and the Committee on European Affairs and Development Policy – where he is centrally involved in the structural transformation of Lusatia into a model region for growth and climate protection.
Kerstin Jorna
EU Director-General GROW
Kerstin Jorna has been Director-General of the European Commission’s Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) since 2020. Its task is to maintain and manage the European domestic market and strengthen its governance, with a particular focus on efforts to digitize and decarbonize industry, making the economy greener, more digital and more resilient. Kerstin Jorna has been a civil servant at the European Union since 1990, where she has served as Head of Cabinet of various Commissions and in various Director positions.
Foto: © European Commission
Prof Dr-Ing Klaus Höschler
Director of the Rolls-Royce Research Center
After completing his studies and doctorate at RWTH Aachen University in the field of aircraft engines, Klaus Höschler worked at Rolls-Royce Germany for 16 years, where he held five different specialist and management positions, including Chief Designer for aircraft engines. He has been working at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg since 2012, including as director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Center, initiator and scientific co-director of the Center for Hybrid-Electric Systems Cottbus (chesco) and course director of the international Hybrid Electric Propulsion Technology course.
Kristina Jeromin
Expertin Sustainable Finance
The transformation finance expert has many years of professional experience at the interface between the financial sector, the real economy and politics – with a focus on structural change. From 2009 to 2020, she worked at Deutsche Börse Group as Head of Group Sustainability, among other things. From 2018 to 2024, she was also Managing Director of the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster German and from 2019 to 2021 Deputy Chairwoman of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Board of the German Federal Government. Since May 2024, she has been co-head of the Mercator initiative “Made in Germany 2030”, which is working on decarbonization strategies.
Krzysztof Burda
Co-founder & President PIRE
After completing his Master’s degree at the University of Zielona Góra, Krzysztof Burda worked in the electromobility industry with a focus on the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. In 2018, he then switched to the electric mobility industry itself, where, among other things, he co-created the “E-mobility now!” program, which promotes the development of electric mobility in local government units through a series of bottom-up activities (including education, infrastructure, promotion, information). Today, he is Chairman of the Board of the Polish Chamber for the Development of Electromobility (PIRE), which he also co-founded.
Prof Dr Lars Enghardt
Head of DLR Institute Cottbus
Prof Dr Lars Enghardt was employed at the DLR Institute of Propulsion Technology in Berlin from 1997 to 2023. In 2009, he was appointed professor for the Chair of Turbomachinery and Thermoacoustics at the Technical University of Berlin in conjunction with the management of the DLR Department of Engine Acoustics. Since 2020, he has been setting up a new DLR institute in Cottbus, which deals with electrified aircraft engines. In 2023, he was appointed professor for the Chair of Electrified Aircraft Engines at BTU Cottbus, together with the management of the new DLR institute.
Lars Katzmarek
Lusatian area ambassador, member of the Landtag Brandenburg
Thanks to his work – first as a specialist electronics technician at Vattenfall and then as a telecommunications technician at LEAG – the Lusatian native is familiar with the region’s history as a lignite mining area and is also involved in its transformation into a model region for growth and climate protection. He has been Regional Manager for Green Business at LEAG since 2024 and, in addition to being elected to the Brandenburg parliament, is also politically active in the position of district ambassador, deputy of Pro Lausitz e.V. and as a member of Junge Lausitz e.V.
Laura Staudacher
Executive of Junge Lausitz e.V.
After studying to become a teacher in Dresden, the native of Lusatia returned to her home region, where she worked as a scientific assistant in politics. After becoming active as a young politician herself, she founded the “Junge Lausitz” network together with other young people from the region. As a non-partisan association, they are committed to a positive future for the region. For example, they have drawn up a perspective plan containing ideas for projects and political framework conditions to ensure that the structural transformation of Lusatia into a model region for growth and climate protection is successful.
Leonie Hoffmann
Boston Consulting Group Green Team
Leonie Hoffmann currently works at the Boston Consulting Group in the Climate & Sustainability working group, where she works on the implementation of carbon accounting solutions in the financial sector. She was previously part of other consulting companies such as WTS Advisory GmbH, Simon-Kucher & Partners, PwC Ireland and EY, where she was also involved in the areas of corporate responsibility and sustainability. She also has a background at UNESCO, where she researched topics such as climate justice or inequality and worked in the secretariat of the intergovernmental program “Management of Social Change”.
Lucie Töpfer
Founder pyropower GmbH
Lucie Töpfer is not only co-founder and CEO of pyropower GmbH, which develops and produces systems for decarbonised energy generation, but also co-partner and co-Ceo at ClinX Energy Systems GmbH, which develops modern technologies for the efficient use of renewable energies. As a driving force for cleantech, leadership and the future economy, she has already received several awards, including the Gründungspreis Brandenburg 2024 and as the winner of the Lausitzer Gründungswettbewerb 2024, Miss Germany Top 90 and Miss Germany Top 30 Founder 2025.
Prof Dr Mario Ragwitz
Director of the Fraunhofer IEG
The doctor of physics is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of energy system analysis, modeling and analysis of energy systems and infrastructures as well as policy analysis and transformation research in the energy and climate sector. He has worked as a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, as a guest researcher at the University of Texas in Austin and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is currently Director of the Fraunhofer IEG and advises the German Federal Government, the EU Parliament, the World Bank, governments of other countries and companies.
Dr Markus Niggemann
Head of Division I Cottbus
Dr Markus Niggemann studied business administration at the European University Viadrina from 1996 to 2000, where he subsequently worked for two years as a research assistant. He then served as an assistant to the Executive Board at Verbundnetz Gas AG in Leipzig and AS a strategy consultant at Accenture from 2004 to 2015, where he was most recently also Director of Trading, Investment and Optimization Strategies for the investment and optimization strategies in the D-A-CH region. Since 2015 he has been Treasurer of the City of Cottbus – where he is currently Head of the Financial Management, Economic Development & Social Affairs – and therefore also responsible for the Net Zero Valley Lusatia Initiative.
Matthias Lisson
Managing Director D-A-CH HY2GEN AG
As Managing Director, Matthias Lisson is responsible for the activities of the Hy2gen Group in the D-A-CH region. He started his professional career in an engineering office for
process engineering in the chemical industry and later worked for TOTAL Energies as Managing Director of the Energy Services division. Inspired by his responsibility as a father, he decided to use his experience to support the fight against climate change, promote the production of renewable hydrogen and to pass on his experience from his career in the industry – including volunteering-, teaching- and political activities.
Maxim Asjoma
Head of Department “Public Partnership” at the Hasso Plattner Institute
Established by SAP founder Hasso Plattner, the privately funded IT institute named after him forms the Faculty of Digital Engineering together with the University of Potsdam, where research is carried out on practical and applied topics relating to digital technologies. The HPI has already produced a large number of successful founders and leaders in the IT sector. Maxim Asjoma, who holds a doctorate in philosophy with a focus on business and digitalization, is Head of the Department of Public Partnerships.
Melanie Stein
Journalist, moderator and host
The journalist, presenter, producer and qualified psychologist is best known as the brain behind various TV, online, radio and podcast formats, such as the SWR series “Geld machen Welt retten” (Saving money saves the world) about sustainable investing. In particular, she has received several awards as the founder and managing director of the initiative “Wir sind der Osten” (We are the East), which highlights players in and from East Germany who are shaping the future in a positive way. She has not only made it her mission to inform her audience, but also to motivate them, for example as editor and presenter of the YouTube format “Diskuthek”, where she inspires young viewers for political talks.
Prof Dr-Ing habil Michael Hübner
Vice President Research and Transfer BTU
Prof Dr-Ing habil Michael Hübner has been working in the field of reconfigurable hardware, innovative multicore architectures and application-specific processors for over two decades, after completing his doctorate at the University of Karlsruhe and his habilitation at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. During this time, he co-initiated numerous DFG, EU and BMBF projects and published over 250 international scientific papers. In 2018, he took over as Head of the Department of Computer Engineering at BTU, where he also became Vice President for Research and Transfer in 2020.
Nadja Lachmund
Rolls-Royce Programme Manager
After graduating from the Berlin University of Applied Sciences as an industrial engineer – where she later gained a further degree in mechanical engineering – the graduate engineer joined Rolls-Royce. She has already been working for the manufacturer of propulsion systems for 19 years in its business areas: civil aviation, defense and power systems. As a certified senior project manager, she has held various management positions, including in the area of research and technology. She currently workes as a Programme Manager for Industry 4.0 and Digitalization.
Dr Nora Baum
CFO, Founder & Management Consultant
After studying sociology, political science and business administration, Dr Nora Baum completed her doctorate on the digitalization of the skilled trades. She then worked for several years as a management consultant at McKinsey in the areas of banking and telecommunications before founding her own digital start-up Pattarina, with which she was in “Die Höhle der Löwen” and was awarded the title of Entrepreneur of the State of Brandenburg in 2020. Today, she is also CFO of the start-up Sonocrete, which uses high-performance ultrasound to develop more climate-friendly concrete and was named Brandenburg’s Company of the Year in 2023.
Oliver Schenk
Member of the European Parliament for Saxony
The economics graduate has been working in politics since 1994 – first for five years as a consultant in the Saxon State Ministry for the Environment and Regional Development, then as office manager of the State Ministry and then of the Minister President. After further positions in the Saxon Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice, he worked from 2010 as Head of Division at the CDU’s federal office in Berlin, where he also became Head of Department at the Federal Ministry of Health in 2014. From 2017, he returned to Saxony as Minister of State in the State Chancellery, which he most recently headed before being elected MEP in 2024.
Rajat Sharma
BTU Alumni member/LEAG Cottbus
Rajat Sharma is originally from India, but then came to Germany to study. He firstly completed a German course at the Eurasia Institute in Berlin before starting his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at BTU in 2017. He now works as a development engineer and deputy project manager for the GIGA Watt Factory at LEAG in Cottbus, where he is involved in various areas. Among other things, he deals with the development, design, implementation and operation of energy storage systems, which can be battery storage systems or other types of energy storage solutions.
Dr Ricardo Remus
Founder and CEO Sonocrete
The start-up Sonocrete develops processes to reduce CO2 emissions in concrete production while improving economic efficiency, such as the use of ultrasound. Its founder and CEO is Dr Ricardo Remus, who completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering at the Bauhaus University Weimar, where he also gained his doctorate. His research areas include ultrasonic activation of cement hydration, high-strength and ultra-high-strength concrete and the durability of concrete under chemical influences.
Dr Richard Meyer
Founder of LEPOSOL GmbH
Dr Richard Meyer can look back on almost 30 years of experience in the solar industry. From 1996 to 2006, he worked at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), where he was involved in the analysis of data from weather satellites, particularly in the field of surface solar radiation. He then worked in various positions – including as a co-founder – at different companies in the photovoltaic industry until 2023, when he founded the start-up LEPOSOL, which aims to promote a simpler and faster expansion of solar energy with foldable PV systems for the roofs of industrial buildings in particular.
Sascha van Beek
Member of the CDU Climate Union
Sascha van Beek is a trained health and nursing professional, has worked in intensive care and anesthesia, studied disaster management in the healthcare sector and is now a member of the German Bundestag on the Health Committee. On the other hand, he worked in the renewable energy sector at SL NaturEnergie in the area of municipalities and cooperation, sits on the Committee on the Environment, Climate Protection, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and is a member of the Climate Union, which, together with the CDU and CSU, wants to achieve an effective 1.5°C policy that combines credible climate policy with sustainable economic policy.
Simon Diercks
Head of Marketing Europe Carbon13
Simon has been at home in the European start-up scene for more than ten years. He started out in the niche of public funding for early-stage deep tech start-ups and caught fire for technological innovation and the development and scaling of start-ups. He then switched sides to a (European-funded) green tech start-up that combines a nature-based solution with IoT for air purification. At Carbon13, Simon has now mentored over 500 climate tech founders in Cambridge (UK) and Berlin.
Thomas Kralinski
State Secretary Ministry of Economic Affairs Saxony
Thomas Kralinski studied political science, economics and East/Southeast European studies in Leipzig and Manchester from 1992 to 1998. This was followed by positions at the TU Dresden, as a research assistant at the SPD parliamentary group in Saxony and as a consultant at the SPD state association in Brandenburg. In 2004, he became managing director of the Brandenburg SPD state parliamentary group in Potsdam. In 2014, he then moved to the Brandenburg state government as State Secretary, was then also Head of the State Chancellery and has now been Head of Office and State Secretary of the Saxon State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport since 2022.
Tobias Schick
Lord Mayor of the City of Cottbus/Chóśebuz
Tobias Schick graduated from the Lausitzer Sportschule in Cottbus. He holds a degree in administration and has extensive experience in sports and club management. From 2007 to 2022, he was Managing Director of the Cottbus City Sports Association. Tobias Schick has been Lord Mayor of the independent city of Cottbus/Chóśebuz since 01.12.2022. Sport exemplifies ambition and fairness in equal measure – and so these qualities characterize the work of the head of administration and city leader for the development of Cottbus/Chóśebuz between the beacons of structural change including the Net Zero Valley and the decarbonization of the local economy and the everyday challenges of daycare centers, neighborhoods and municipal finances.
Prof Dr Uwe Cantner
Chairman of the EFI Expert Commission
With a doctorate in economics, he specializes in the economics of science and innovation. He has not only been a professor of economics – particularly in the field of microeconomics – at Friedrich Schiller University Jena since 2000 with various other positions, such as Vice President for Young Academics, Gender Equality and Diversity, but is also active in other areas. For example, he is a board member of the Jena Schumpeter Center for the Study of Structural Change and advises the German government as Chairman of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation.
Yildiz Götze
Head of Department Promotion Programs GTAI
After almost 24 years at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, where she worked in particular in the Foreign Trade and Europe department, Yildiz Götze has been working at Germany Trade & Invest since 2023. There she leads the Internationalization Promotion Programs department, where she is responsible for managing various programs, including the transformation and internationalization of regions undergoing structural change. In this way, she supports companies from abroad and locally out of the GTAI to receive the change as an opportunity and to participate in shaping it while profiting.