Creating the Future of
European Manufacturing​

Member of the European Parliament

Eva Maydell is a third-term Member of the European Parliament from the European People’s Party, serving in the Industry and Economic Affairs Committees, and as Vice President of the Parliament’s delegation for relations with the United States. She was a lead negotiator on the EU Chips Act and Artificial Intelligence Act, with a focus on innovation, technology, and global democratic cooperation. Maydell is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, sits on the WEF Digital Europe Board, and co-founded the Council on the Future with the Munich Security Conference. Her work has been recognised with two MEP of the Year Awards, Forbes 30 Under 30, FT’s New Europe 100, and multiple POLITICO rankings of influential European leaders. 

Head of Chair of Production & Operations Management

Prof. Netland is a leading voice in global manufacturing innovation. He heads the Chair of Production and Operations Management at ETH Zurich and serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council. As President of EurOMA and a Fellow of the European Academy for Industrial Management, his work has shaped both academic and industrial thinking. A recipient of the Jack Meredith Best Paper Award and two Shingo Research Awards, he co-authored the definitive 800-page textbook Introduction to Manufacturing. 

Senior Germany Correspondent

Head of Artificial Intelligence

Director of Policy

Research Vice President

As Research Vice President, Industry Ecosystems & Business Networks, Manufacturing Insights at IDC, Jeff Hojlo focuses on the creation and optimization of trusted industry ecosystems and next-generation value chains across multiple industries, including discrete and process manufacturing, construction, and retail. Research includes a focus on three important enablers of ecosystems: shared data & insight, shared applications, and shared operations & expertise. Mr. Hojlo also manages IDC’s Manufacturing Insights Global Research, with a focus on key topics such as Industry 4.0/5.0, Digital twins, and the impact of AI.  This coverage also includes research and analysis of emerging strategies such as product innovation platforms and the closed loop digital thread of product design, development, R&D/engineering, digital manufacturing, supply chain, and field service. 

Partner

Robin is a partner at General Catalyst and leads the European resilience thesis with a focus on seed investing. He's drawn to companies that are tackling problems in the physical world including manufacturing. Robin previously founded a field service software company for utilities that got acquired by Kraken Technologies. Robin began his career at P9 capital, investing in software across the stack.

CIO

Sébastien Bey is CIO of Siemens Smart Infrastructure, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, with over 20 years of experience in Information Technology. He drives IoT transformation, fosters collaboration in digital ecosystems, and leads Siemens’ IT Northstar. A champion of employee empowerment, he promotes Agile practices, inclusion, and diversity across his organization. Sébastien believes lasting business transformation stems from these values, working closely with customers, stakeholders, and partners to create sustainable, impactful change.

Head IT Value Center - Data Intelligence & Automation

Alexander Dierolf heads a global Value Center for Data Intelligence and Automation, bringing over two decades of experience driving the company’s transformation into a data-driven enterprise. His team supports internal processes across all domains, functions, and business units to unlock their data potential. A strong advocate for innovation through collaboration, Alex champions partnerships between large enterprises and start-ups or scale-up -particularly in manufacturing- to unite rapid AI development with Siemens’ extensive data and process expertise. This combination is essential to scale the digital transformation across Siemens and its global industrial ecosystem.

Delivery Manager New ID.Family,

Frank Ortmann leads the delivery management of Volkswagens MEB platform based products. He ensures the on-time, on-budget and high-quality launches of the new models on the platform, orchestrating cross disciplinary teams. Based on his experience, also from his former role as SVP in Volkswagen Groups Software Unit, where he was responsible for the R&D Tooling, he has a deep understanding of the importance of data-driven development, troubleshooting and decision making in Automotive Engineering.

Chief Science Officer

Torsten Kroeger is the Chief Science Officer of Intrinsic, a robotics software and AI company at Alphabet. Intrinsic aims to unlock the creative and economic potential of industrial robotics for businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers by making industrial robots easier to use and train. Intrinsic became an Alphabet “Other Bet” in July 2021. He has more than two decades of experience in robotics and AI. Before joining Intrinsic, he was the founder and CEO of Reflexxes GmbH, a startup developing real-time motion generation software, and co-founder and CEO of Loom Vision GmbH, a robotics software startup.

CEO & Co-Founder

CEO & Co-Founder

Tarik Benabdallah is Co-Founder and CEO of Pelico, an AI-powered platform that is transforming supply chain orchestration for global manufacturers. Pelico is trusted by industry leaders such as Airbus, Safran, Eaton and Daikin and backed by investors like General Catalyst, 83North and Serena. Tarik is a serial entrepreneur. With a background in AI & enterprise software, he helped multiple manufacturers to conduct award-winning large scale digital transformations. He is passionate about empowering operational teams to conduct step-change transformations leveraging data & AI.

Co-Founder & MD

Co-Founder & MD