Judith

Gerlach

She studied law at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg. In 2010, she passed the first state law examination; after her legal traineeship in Würzburg, she also passed the second state law examination in 2013. In June 2013, she was admitted to the bar and worked as an independent lawyer in Aschaffenburg; her admission is currently suspended. She has been a member of the Bavarian State Parliament since September 2013.
Photo: Susie Knoll © constituency office Judith Gerlach

Prof. Dr. Ute

Schmid

Ute Schmid is a professor of Cognitive Systems at the University of Bamberg. She has more than 20 years experience in research as well as teaching in AI, especially in the domain of interpretable machine learning, hybrid AI and explainable AI. She worked at TU Berlin, University of Osnabrück and at Carnegie Mellon University. Ute Schmid is a member of the board of directors of the Bavarian Institute of Digital Transformation (bidt) and a member of the Bavarian AI Council (Bayerischer KI-Rat). Furthermore, she is head of the Fraunhofer IIS project group Comprehensible AI (CAI). Ute Schmid won the Minerva Gender Equality Award of Informatics Europe 2018 for her university. Since many years, she is engaged in educating the public about artificial intelligence and she gives workshops for teachers as well as high-school students about AI and machine learning. For her outreach activities, she has been awarded with the Rainer-Markgraf-Preis 2020.

Prof. Dr. Isabell

Welpe

Prof. Dr. Isabell M. Welpe has been the chair of the Strategy and Organization research group at the Technical University of Munich, Germany since 2009. In 2017, she was elected among the 40 leading HR-Personalities (Award of the Journal Personalmagazin). The expertise of Professor Welpe includes digital transformation of companies (AI und Web3), business model innovation, the impact of digital technologies on the economy and organizations and the future of leadership and work/organizational design.

Jörg

Köpp

Jörg Köpp is a Market Segment and Technology Manager responsible for driving T&M business in the wireless connectivity market at Rohde & Schwarz, Jörg has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry and is well known as speaker, and host of webinars and the video series Let’s talk IoT. Prior to joining Rohde & Schwarz, he worked as a System Architect, Project Leader, and Director of System Engineering and Technology Strategy Manager at Siemens and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Dr. Annette

Doms

Annette is an art historian with expertise in digital art and has been discussing the possibilities of blockchain for art since 2015. She is Founding Partner of the V-IRL digital art gallery xcircle and together with her Partner Christina Brugger the Web3 agency NFTory, focusing on hyperrealistic metaverse concepts and NFT branding. She is also a strategic NFT advisor to digital influencer Ava Verce. As an advisory board member of XRXplorer School, she supports the future of XR learning in schools. Education is currently also the key for Web3. Here, Annette is an active keynote speaker for innovation topics as well as a regular jury member for media art awards. In 2014 she co-founded and directed Germany's first art fair for digital art UNPAINTED.

Thomas

Pickel

Executive with 30 years in different innovative roles in the IT industry. Working with customers and partners in different leadership roles in SAP and in the SAP ecoystem. International and multi-cultural experience. Passion for digitization, talent development and leadership in digital.

Andrea

Martin

Andrea Martin is the CTO Ecosystem & Associations for the IBM DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Her responsibility is ensuring value creation by coordinating IBM’s technological contribution to the ecosystem and associations. From 2020-23 she led the IBM Innovation Studio team in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). She was CTO for IBM DACH from 2015-19 and President, IBM Academy of Technology from 2014-15. In her roles, Andrea Martin uses her experience and global network from more than 30 years in the international services business, which also provides valuable input for her activities as an expert in the AI Advisory Board of the Free State of Bavaria as well as in the Commission for AI of the German Parliament (from 2018-2020). Andrea Martin has started her career at IBM in 1992 after earning her Master’s degree (diploma) in Applied Mathematics from the University in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Prof. Dr. Richard

Göbel

Prof. Dr. Richard Göbel graduated with a diploma in computer science from TU Darmstadt in 1982. He obtained his PhD in natural sciences (Dr. rer. nat) in the field of artificial intelligence from the University of Kaiserslautern in 1988. In 1988 and 1989 he headed the workgroup ‘Design System’ at AID GmbH. From 1989 to 1997 he worked for Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (Germany's national research center for aeronautics and space) as a scientist and project leader and was responsible for different projects in the field of information systems. He also coordinated different international projects of the most important space agencies such as the Catalogue Interoperability Experiment (CINTEX). Since 1997 Dr. Richard Göbel has been a professor at Hof University and teaching in the field of multimedia information systems. Currently, he is a member of the faculty council for computer science, the university senate and the university council of Hof University. He has been the scientific head of the Institute of Information Systems (iisys) at Hof University since 2010. Prof. Göbel is a member of programme committees of different international conferences as well as evaluator for European, national and regional research programmes in the fields of information systems and civil safety research.

Dr. Michael

Tagscherer

Dr. Henning

Sanneck

Henning Sanneck is Chief Architect AI/ML in the Architecture, Security and Automation Group of Nokia Standards, Munich, Germany. Before, he acted as Research Department Head for Network Automation, providing vision, strategy and concepts to support Nokia's 3GPP and ETSI standardization efforts. Henning published 80+ papers and has 35 patents granted or published. He was co-editor of the book "LTE Self-Organizing Networks" and co-author of the book "Towards Cognitive Autonomous Networks".

Dr. Martin

Dürr

Florian

Albert

Tristan

Post

Tristan Post, a leading expert in AI for innovation and entrepreneurship, manages AI Founders, Europe's top incubator for AI startups, based in Heilbronn. He lectures at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), teaching master students how to apply AI in real-world scenarios and build successful AI startups. As a senior AI strategist at appliedAI, the largest initiative for AI application, he collaborates with large companies on their AI strategy. Additionally, Tristan advises investors and PE on AI-related topics. He is also a founder, having established Yoga Cat, an AI-driven company creating innovative, sustainable goods for the yoga market.

Amela

Gjishti

Amela is a Graduate Researcher from the Technical University of Munich where she recently completed her master's on EU standardization of Cybersecurity for AI. She has worked as a Cybersecurity Architect for Bank of America in Chicago, IL, and holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Tennessee Technological University. She was a co-founder and a co-director of Responsible Technology Hub, a nonprofit in Munich, which challenges the traditional profit- driven approach to building technology and instead enhances the younger generation's voices to shape a future with better technology. She is very passionate about building the right social and technical mechanisms to develop trustworthy and powerful technologies such as AI, that advance all humanity equally.

Carolin

Lutzenberger

Meet Carolin, a highly experienced Venture Clienting professional at 27pilots. As a Chapter Lead, she drives growth and success for multiple Venture Client Units, including BMW Startup Garage. With her extensive experience as one of the earliest employees at 27pilots, Carolin excels in establishing and expanding Venture Client Units across diverse industries and organizations of all sizes. Combining her background in company building and entrepreneurship with her education from TUM, she is equipped to revolutionize the world of corporate venturing.

Dr. Andreas

Boehm

Dr. Andreas Böhm is a physicist with a diploma in solid state physics. In 2003, he received his PhD in molecular biophysics from the University of Frankfurt.

In industry, Dr. Andreas Böhm worked for several years at one of the world's largest automotive suppliers in the development of engine control units. At Robert Bosch GmbH, he also gained extensive experience in the management of complex projects.

Since 2007, Dr. Andreas Böhm has been working at Bayern Innovativ GmbH, where he headed the Automotive Cluster from 2012 to July 2020. His main focus was on coordinating the future topics of automotive wiring systems and autonomous driving. He is in charge of the "AK ASIL im Bordnetz" working group, the results of which are being incorporated into a technical guide in cooperation with the ZVEI.

He is currently setting up the technology field of quantum technology for Bayern Innovativ GmbH in order to promote cooperation between research and industry in this future-oriented field.

Raphael

Frick

Raphael Antonius Frick is a research fellow at Fraunhofer SIT | ATHENE in Darmstadt.
Within the division "Media Security & IT-Forensics" he is researching new detection methods for AI-generated and manipulated audiovisual data, with a particular focus on deepfake detection.
In addition, his research also explores the opportunities of synthetic data to achieve other security goals such as anonymity and to improve the robustness and performance of deep learning classifiers.

Gerrit Ellerwald

Gerrit Ellerwald is the Co-Founder and CFO of Ampeers Energy GmbH, a Munich-based SaaS-ClimeTech company. The Entrepreneurship MBA holder looks back at over 17 years of work experience and industry expertise regarding SaaS, e-commerce, energy and consulting, as well als settting-up and scaling of Grünspar GmbH. After successfully closing 2 VC fundings and his exit in 2015, he and his 2 other co-founders, Dr. Karsten Schmidt an Tobias Müller, merged their skillset to found Ampeers Energy. As an active Business Angel, Mr. Ellerwald furthermore has built a large network in the startup/VC-scene and developed himself into a key stakeholder in the German SaaS-environment.

Vicente

Diaz

Peter

Grönquist

Peter Grönquist is a Machine Learning Engineer at EPFL's esteemed Image and Visual Representation Lab (IVRL). With a deep-rooted passion for the field, he began his research journey in 2016 during his studies at ETHZ, focusing on applying deep learning to global-scale weather forecasting. After specializing in computer vision and graphics at Huawei Research Zürich, he joined EPFL, where his research centers around image and video generation and detection. His expertise was recently acknowledged when he secured a major prize in an international DeepFake detection challenge organized by AI Singapore. His work extends beyond academia, as he actively collaborates with industry partners, providing valuable insights in DeepFake detection for media through his consulting work. Additionally, he is committed to bridging the gap between technology and the wider public by fostering awareness, education, and accessibility to research performed at IVRL/EPFL.

Dr. Georg

Klose

Dr. Antonia

Schmalz

Since 2021, Project Manager at SPRIND GmbH (Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovations) and responsible for physics-related topics as well as projects in the fields of microelectronics, computing and adjacent areas. Ms. Schmalz completed her doctorate in physics at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, focusing on laser-driven electron acceleration. Subsequently, she advised ministries at the state and federal level on research funding for projects in microelectronics with a focus on chip design and semiconductor technologies at VDI/VDE-IT GmbH. She will head the SPRIND subsidiary GmbH, which is tasked with developing infrastructure for laser-driven fusion.

Raphael Antonius

Frick

Raphael Antonius Frick is a research fellow at Fraunhofer SIT | ATHENE in Darmstadt. Within the division "Media Security & IT-Forensics" he is researching new detection methods for AI-generated and manipulated audiovisual data, with a particular focus on deepfake detection. In addition, his research also explores the opportunities of synthetic data to achieve other security goals such as anonymity and to improve the robustness and performance of deep learning classifiers.

Bianca

Sum

Bianca is Head of the Thematic Platform Cybersecurity at Bayern Innovativ. She has been working in the field of cybersecurity for almost 10 years. One of her main goals is to raise awareness for the importance of digital security – across all company sizes and industries. Bianca studied political science at the Universities of Passau and Heidelberg and the University of the Armed Forces Munich.

Alexandra

Renner

Alexandra Renner is Startup Lead at the BMW Startup Garage, the global matchmaker between cutting-edge startup solutions and the innovation needs of BMW Business Units. During her studies, Alexandra experienced first hand the challenges of co-founding a tech startup. At the BMW Group she developed a profound understanding of automotive industrialisation. Her main focus is to scale up startup innovations within BMW after the pilot phase and to establish long-term relationships with the portfolio startups of the BMW Startup Garage.

Daniel

Scholz

Footprint Intelligence empowers companies for a fast and effective decarbonization and CO2 emission assessment according to official regulations. Through artificial and collective intelligence, Footprint makes the reduction process digital, fast and cost effective.

Dr. Matthias

Berger

“I believe sustainable healthcare needs digital health. Yet, we have to change the way solutions are thought and developed for this purpose.” - Highly interested in digital business models - Doctoral thesis about network effects in smart homes at LMU Munich - Enthusiast for cloud technologies - Former head of cloud software development in industry

Nicolai

Harnisch

Nicolai Harnisch studied political science and sociology at the universities of Munich, Granada, Marburg and Madrid.

After graduating with a master's degree in 2019, he joined the Zentrum Digitalisierung.Bayern, initially as a management consultant. Since April 2020, he has been working at Bayern Innovativ GmbH as a project manager for technology at the interface of digitization and mobility, e.g. in the thematic platform Networked Mobility and in the EU project "E-Hubs" as well as in the area of internationalization.

Christoph

Raithel

Petra

Dahm

With working as a strategic consultant for large infrastructure enterprises globally for more than 15 years, Petra Dahm has a longterm and profound experience with innovation & change processes and the implementation of complex digitalisation projects. 2019 she joined the founding group of Extended Reality Bavaria e.V. as a board member with the aim to foster the Bavarian XR community in general and above that create two special interest groups with Medical XR and WomenInXR connecting with national and global networks. With her current Start-Up StellDirVor with HQ in Munich she’s consulting healthcare, nursing and social organisations in their digitalisation strategy. In co-operation with international partners the company is offering innovative XR solutions for the motivation, education and on-job-training of nurses as well as for the digitalization of internal and external processes in the healthcare sector.

Christoph

Ostler

Since 2011 Christoph Ostler has been working in the fields of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Extended Reality. As a first mover he is with Connected Reality one of the leading companies in the industry. With over 350 innovation workshops and keynotes, as well as a multitude of successfully realized projects in the most diverse markets, he has the overview of the opportunities and possibilities through the use of the technology. Customers include Allianz, BayWa, FC Bayern Basketball, Messe München, Portal München, Novotel, UniCredit, Universal Robots, Bavarian Business Association and many more.

Dr. Jonas

Gross

Dr. Jonas Gross is Chairman of the Digital Euro Association (DEA) and Chief Operating Officer at etonec. Jonas holds a PhD in economics from the University of Bayreuth, Germany. His main fields of interest are central bank digital currencies, stablecoins, cryptocurrencies, and monetary policy. Further, Jonas is co-host of the German podcast "Bitcoin, Fiat, & Rock'n' Roll", external lecturer at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, and member of the expert panel of the European Blockchain Observatory and Forum.

Dr. Susan

Lindner

Dr. Susan Lindner hat ihre berufliche Laufbahn nach dem Abschluss ihres Studiums der Automatisierungs- und Systemtechnik und der anschließenden Promotion an der TU Ilmenau als IT-Consultant gestartet. Sie verfügt über mehr als 20 Jahre Erfahrung in unterschiedlichen Führungspositionen beim bayerischen Premium-Automobilhersteller BMW. Dabei trug sie internationale Verantwortung in der Business IT und initiierte und begleitete zahlreiche Digitalisierungsprojekte.
Seit 2021 bringt Dr. Susan Lindner ihre Erfahrung bei Bayern Innovativ ein. Dr. Lindner leitet das Spezialisierungsfeld Digitalisierung und die dazugehörenden Themenplattformen des ZD.B (Zentrum Digitalisierung.Bayern).

Dr. Robert

Couronné

Er ist promovierter Ingenieur der Elektro- und Informationstechnik und habe längere Zeit am Fraunhofer IIS im Bereich Bildverarbeitung und Medizintechnik gearbeitet. Danach hat er die Geschäftsführung eines IT-Unternehmensnetzwerks übernommen und war zuletzt als Digital Solutions Consultant bei einem IoT-Entwicklungsunternehmen tätig. Cybersecurity ist in Zeiten des IoT ein strategisches Muss.

Peter

Möhring

Jessica

Pistoia

Jessica Pistoia is a qualified marketing communications specialist and, after completing her training, worked as an event manager for the planning, organization and implementation of national and international events (in particular trade fair appearances) for a medium-sized B2B company. In 2020, she completed her part-time studies in Business Administration with a Bachelor of Arts. Since 2021, she has been working as a project manager in the Marketing | Event team at Bayern Innovativ GmbH, where she is responsible for the successful implementation of numerous events.