Top-class speakers

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Below you will find a list of the first high profile speakers at Quantum Effects 2024.

Alexandra Beckstein is Co-founder and CEO of QAI Ventures, a company focused on ecosystem building by providing investment and acceleration of Quantum and AI startups. In the QuantumBasel project, out of which the company was born, she was responsible for the strategy development as well as building the startup ecosystem. A geoscientist by training with advanced education in business and leadership she was founder of her own company in Berlin in the field of renewable energy and is co-author of the book: "Bossing it- The future belongs to the bold." She is driven by the conviction that technology is a key to solving many global challenges and that business ecosystems must replace the traditional business ego-systems.

Erin Beilharz, Principal Consultant at Lufthansa Systems, is a key influencer of innovation, technology, and sustainability in aviation. She spends her days identifying, sourcing, implementing, and scaling technologies to transform Lufthansa Group to future-proof its business.   Erin focuses on scaling and commercializing homegrown tech from within the group companies and establishing partnerships with startups and corporates in the areas of biometrics, AI, advanced materials, SAF and E-fuels, Direct Air Capture, circular economy, and future hardware like powertrains, hydrogen, electric, hybrid, etc. Erin has a background in logistics, aviation, IT, and is passionate about ideas.

Janina is a medical doctor (MD, PhD) with ~20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, trained at Medical University Hospital Hannover, MGH Boston, Stanford Clinics and NUH Singapore. Before joining SIEMENS she was working in the pharmaceutical industry at Johnson&Johnson. She has extensive knowledge in growing large scale businesses as well as building new businesses leveraging latest technologies to scale the business, e.g. digital ecosystems, platform business, AR/VR, etc.

She spent a substantial time in Asia Pacific/China while heading clinical research for SIEMENS Healthineers.

Furthermore, Janina is appointed lecturer at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg affiliated to the Technical University under the chair of Artificial Intelligence and Biomedical Engineering / Machine Learning and Data Analytics. She conducts the seminars “Leading by Learning” and “ AI and Digitalization in Healthcare” and is intensively looking into Quantum Computing and possible applications in healthcare. 

In her private time Janina supports D.R.O.P.S foundation, a non-profit organization caring for health and health education in emerging countries.

https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/de

Roland Bleinroth has been President of Messe Stuttgart since 2006, and CEO since February 2020. In this function he is responsible for the entire company, Corporate Communications, Corporate Services and the Trade Fairs & Events 2 exhibition area with a focus on technology & crafts, mechanical engineering & production and tourism & caravanning. With Messe Stuttgart International, he is also responsible for the foreign business of Messe Stuttgart.

Bleinroth was previously active as President of Messe Frankfurt, Inc. at the location of Atlanta/USA for ten years, responsible for building up the business of an internationally successful trade fair company in North America (USA, Canada, Mexico). At AEG Daimler-Benz Industrie, for seven years he held management positions for the strategic planning, foreign business and marketing of a successful industrial company.

Beside his full-time activity, Bleinroth is also involved in further voluntary activities, and is, among other things, the Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the Stuttgart Regional Chamber of Industry and Trade, a regular member of the Stuttgart Regional Chamber of Industry and Trade, and a Board Member of the Italian Chamber of Trade in Munich. Since spring 2022, Roland Bleinroth has also been Honorary Consul for Mongolia in Baden-Württemberg and since November 2022 President of the European Major Exhibition Centres Association (EMECA).

Dr Andreas Böhm is physicist with a degree in solid state physics. In 2003 he completed his Ph.D in molecular biophysics at the University of Frankfurt.
In industry he worked for several years at one of the world's largest automotive suppliers in the development of engine control units (ECU). In this he gained extensive experience in the management of complex projects at Robert Bosch GmbH.
 
2007 he changed to Bayern Innovativ GmbH as head of Cluster Automotive from 2012 to July 2020. His main focus was on coordinating the future topics of automotive wiring systems and autonomous driving.
 
Currently he heads the emerging tech quantum technology for Bayern Innovativ GmbH in order to force cooperation between research and industry in this future topic.

Alex is the CEO and co-founder of Resonance. Resonance is the leading provider of market intelligence across deep technology verticals such as quantum, space, immersive, climate and AI. The business serves hundreds of clients - ranging from startups to national governments - with its SaaS subscription intelligence, strategic advisory and marketing offerings. Alex was previously a Director in a UK based private equity fund, where he focused on data and tech investments.

Dr Michael Förtsch is the founder and CEO of Q.ANT. He studied mathematics and physics, and earned his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen. A research stay at the National Institute for Standards and Technology in Boulder was followed by positions as a strategy consultant and personal assistant to the CTO at TRUMPF Se + Co KG in Stuttgart. From this position, he founded the company Q.ANT in 2018.

https://qant.de/en/

Dr Gustav Kalbe | DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission, Acting Director of DG Connect C “Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure” and Head of Unit of the High Performance Computing and Quantum Technology unit

Dr Gustav Kalbe studied Applied Physics at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. In 1991 he studied Applied Optics at the Imperial College of Science in London. In 1995 he completed his studies and earned a PhD in Physics at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium.

He started his professional career as a project manager in photonic networks at the incumbent telecom operator in Belgium. He was R&D manager when he left the company. In 1998 he joined the Directorate General Information Society & Media of the European Commission where he started working as Project Officer managing research projects of the European Framework Programs for Research. Over the years he had several assignments in quantum technologies, photonics, and cybersecurity. In 2014 Gustav Kalbe became Head of Unit for Administration & Finance in the European Commission, in Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology. In 2016 he was appointed Head of Unit of the newly created High Performance Computing and Quantum Technology unit in Directorate General Communications Networks, Content and Technology. In 2018 he became responsible for the establishment and operation of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking. He occupied the post of Interim Executive Director of the Joint Undertaking until its autonomy by the end of 2020. In January 2021, he was appointed Deputy to the Director of DG Connect C “Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure”. Since May 2022 Gustav is the Acting Director of DG Connect C “Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure”.

Dr Katrin Kobe is the CEO of the internal start-up “Bosch Quantum Sensing” and holds a PhD in physics. She has nearly 30 years of experience with technology companies. Dr. Katrin Kobe worked as a top management consultant at McKinsey and more than 20 years in operational top management positions. She has international experience and was responsible for subsidiaries in Eastern Europe and China. Her industry experience includes plant and mechanical engineering, automotive, sensor technology, medical technology and energy. She is a specialist for product strategies, business model innovations and high-value technology products.

https://www.bosch-quantumsensing.com/

Florian Neukart has earned himself a reputation as high-tech leader and practitioner as well as a consultant for innovative and future oriented technologies. As a board member at the Terra Quantum AG, he is responsible for new product development. He is also on the Advisory Board of the International Foundation of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing, Special advisor for the Quantum Strategy Institute, on the Board of Management of the AI Park, co-author of the National Roadmap for Quantum Computing Germany, on the Advisory Board of Quantum.Tech and a member of the Future Council on Quantum Computing at the World Economic Forum.

Before joining the Terra Quantum AG in 2021, he had been in various positions at the Volkswagen Group and took over responsibility for the Software Innovation Center in Munich, Wolfsburg, Berlin and San Francisco as its Director. Before his career at the Volkswagen AG Group, he had been in managing and research positions in industry, science and consulting. Florian Neukart studied computer science, physics and information technology and holds master's and diploma degrees in these fields as well as a doctorate in computer science with a focus on the interface of artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

He is engaged in academic research and teaching and works as an assistant professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science teaching quantum computing. Neukart wrote books about Artificial Intelligence and Energy, published a book on quantum computers and wrote more than 90 articles about quantum computing and various related topics covering a wide range from material sciences to autonomous vehicles.

Dr. Frederik Schaal is CTO of Bosch’s Quantum Sensing start-up and holds a PhD in Engineering. He has nearly 20 years of experience in innovating new technologies - in the academic environment as well as in the start-up and also the corporate world. Dr. Frederik Schaal has built up his own companies as well as corporate start-ups. He has deep expertise in the field of sensors and optical systems as well as additive manufacturing. His experience ranges from research & development to business model and organization building. His engagement also extends to the education sector as an active jury member of "Jugend forscht“, an NGO run as public private partnership aiming to encourage and support young talented achievers in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.