Elite Experts Conferences – 
Towards a better and cleaner future through knowledge transfer and technology

Podcast #027 - Pierre Teszner, Ted Stockburger and Christian Leitner

The topic of this premium panel within the Elite Experts Conferences’ technology podcast is: „Empowering Innovation: The Rockwell Automation Vision for Future-Ready EV Battery Supply Chains“. 

Imagine that there is a reliable method for predicting the future of the automotive industry, the expansion of electrification or other industry trends with a high probability - would you be interested in this method? Let's hypothesise that there is a reliable 'crystal ball', so to speak. 

For the 'crystal ball' to work, we need an independent industry that stands for itself, but which extends throughout the entire automotive industry. This is very important, because there has to be a certain neutrality. 

For example, you can't ask OEMs themselves about trends in the automotive industry. They have their customers, their suppliers, their shareholders, society in general, to whom they have to look good. In short: neutrality looks different, right?  So, and furthermore, for this method we need knowledgeable experts at decision-maker level and their years of experience and good skills of observation.

THAT is the reliable way to get the best information.

And THAT is why this episode is relevant to anyone interested in the automotive industry well beyond automation topics.

Yes, our guests are all three automation experts from Rockwell Automation, but their experienced view goes much further than just automation topics. We promise it's worth listening to. 

Let’s talk about battery supply chain - its past, its present and its future, about cybersecurity, about partnerships - this part is worthwhile for both established companies and start-ups, about networks, leadership and much more.

Let’s welcome to this premium panel:

1. Pierre Teszner as Regional Vice President Central EMEA

2. Ted Stockburger as Global Director Electric Vehicle and Advanced Mobility

3. Christian Leitner as Business Leader Future Mobility EMEA

Listen in and be inspired - at the end the guests share great insights from their lives: Pierre shares his insights from 16 years in Asia, Ted gives us his brilliant learnings on how to deal with your own failures and defeats and Christian brings a good summary of what good networking is all about to form stable business partnerships.

Enjoy listening as we enjoyed creating this episode for you, our dear listener!

Podcast #026 - Maurizio Corbi

In this podcast episode, we have the honor of welcoming Maurizio Corbi to this digital stage. Maurizio is the Senior Designer at Pininfarina. Anyone in our community working with car design will immediately recognize Maurizio and his legendary achievements in the design world. For everyone else, here's a brief overview.

Car design has been Maurizio’s lifelong passion, and it wasn't enough for him to merely design cars – he wanted to design Ferrari cars. His first Ferrari project was the F116 (F456 GT) project, and his interior proposal was chosen. Then, in 1990, the iconic F50 emerged. The design process was unique, as Ferrari selected different elements and parts from the proposals of the entire team. In the end, Mr. Ramaciotti, the Director of Pininfarina Studies & Research at that time, built a unified proposal that featured a significant part of Maurizio’s work.

In 1992, Ferrari assigned his team the project to restyle the F348. From this exercise, Ferrari selected Maurizio’s proposals for the front and the side, giving birth to the F355 (Project F129). In December of the same year, he began the first sketches to define what later became the F550 Maranello (F131A). Over the decades, Maurizio has consulted on numerous projects, with a more recent contribution to the front end of the California in 2008. All in all, Maurizio is perhaps the only designer in the world who has designed the most Ferrari cars.

Join us as we dive into the evolution of Ferrari's iconic designs, exploring the delicate balance between tradition and innovation. We discuss insights into sustainable car design, navigating the changing landscape of mobility, and envisioning a future where elegance seamlessly merges with environmental consciousness. As in every episode, you will have many opportunities to learn from Maurizio, not only about car design but also about his personal lessons learned along the way.

Enjoy!

Podcast #025 - Mario Brunner, Gustav Tuschen and Matthias Dank

Today we are celebrating our 25th episode on the Elite Experts Conferences Technology Podcast. We've prepared a little surprise for our audience. One of the guests on this new panel will look familiar to you. Yes, it's Gustav Tuschen from AVL, who was already on our panel with Andrea Hees from Yanfeng and Joerg Brandscheid from Polestar. That panel was outstanding and there are so many more stories to be told. 

Here are three guests from AVL in a completely new constellation:

1. Gustav Tuschen, EVP Business Development Truck & Bus and Industrial & International Operations.

2. Mario Brunner, EVP Engineering & Technology

3. Matthias Dank, EVP Global Business Development, Sales and International Operations Instrumentation and Test Systems

Which topics & questions were discussed?

- Developments in the automotive industry over the last 15-20 years

- Where we can expect the most dynamic transformations

- Where is the biggest potential in digitalisation and data management

- Decarbonisation: technology-wise feasible vs economically viable

- Links to energy sector & why it's so important

- Technology openness: risky path or incredibly smart?

- How to choose ‘crazy & bold’ projects - and listen if Dr. Ludmilla Derr was allowed to get a small insight there? 

- What can we learn from the motorsport industry

- What value is generated by startup hub “Creators Expedition - an AVL initiative”

- and many more

In this episode like in every episode we stay true to our motto “educate, entertain and inspire”.

Tune in & enjoy! 

Podcast #024 - Dr. Tamara Baksht and Dr. Christian Wachtendorf

The topic of this premium panel is: "Power Electronics - Navigating the Challenges and Seizing the Opportunities”. If Volkswagen changes its strategy and 'suddenly' develops its own power electronics in-house, then we have to talk about it. If the CEO of VisIC Technologies says that in 2027/28 she will drive up with a car with GaN power electronics, then we have to talk about that, too. 

Our excellent guests this time are:

• Dr. Tamara Baksht, CEO at VisIC Technologies
• Dr. Christian Wachtendorf, Head of Power Electronics Hardware Development, Volkswagen AG

First of all, if you are expecting a long and boring discussion, you are at the wrong place. The guests were exciting, very transparent, entertaining and provided some real surprises. 

We can reveal a few surprises right away. It is often the case that the technical leaders in large companies like Volkswagen refer the startups that approach them with exciting innovations to the internal startup programmes and startup hubs. Christian has a completely different approach. He wants people to approach him with bold and exciting developments, he wants to receive pitches on the topic of power electronics and filter them himself. So to all the start-ups that are reading this and are active in this field, take advantage of this opportunity and get in touch with Christian directly.

The second surprise came from Tamara, but you'd better listen in to hear why someone who comes from the start-up world appreciates the processes of large companies and finds them better for the field of power electronics.

So, if you want to experience knowledge combined with entertainment and inspiration, you've come to the right place. The motto of this episode is as always "educate, entertain and inspire”. 

Tune in and enjoy!

Podcast #023 - Jörg Brandscheid

In this podcast episode we do something quite unusual. For the very first time a guest that was participating in one of our premium panels is invited right away for the next episode for an one-on-one interview.

Let’s welcome on this digital stage Jörg Brandscheid, as CTO at Polestar.

Also this time Jörg answered many interesting and challenging questions about:

• Development of the product portfolio at Polestar
• Sustainability and electrification
• Polestar’s approach regarding automated driving abilities
• Collaborations, especially with competitors - yes, it’s possible - tune in to know how to do it;
• Collaboration between Volvo Cars, Geely and Polestar
• How to innovate as a relatively small company
• And of course some life wisdom about productivity and leadership

Jörg has a simply fascinating background. He worked for over 19 years at General Motors, starting as a Project Engineer and finishing in the role as Head of GM Powertrain Electronic Development. Afterwards he moved on to the role as Head of Electronics Development at CLAAS in agriculture machinery. In 2014, he joined Chery Automobile in China where he had the role as Executive Director Engineering. Later in 2017, he started as VP Engineering Powertrain/Drivetrain Electronics at Continental. After two years he moved on to HELLA as EVP Electronics and became a Member of the Executive Board. In October 2021 Jörg joined Polestar. 

Tune in and don't forget to subscribe - we continue having more exciting tech topics and outstanding personalities in the future. 

Enjoy! 

Podcast #022 - Jörg Brandscheid, Andrea Hees and Gustav Tuschen

The topic of our next premium panel within the Elite Experts Conferences’ technology podcast is: "Innovation Scouting and Strategic Partnerships in Automotive Industry". 

Our outstanding guests this time are:

1. Jörg Brandscheid, CTO at Polestar;

2. Andrea Hees, Director Product & Program Management Global XBU Innovation  at Yanfeng;

3. Gustav Tuschen, EVP at AVL for Industrial & International Operations and Business Development Truck & Bus  

We recommend this episode to every startup, every global player, every supplier, every OEM - in short, EVERYONE in the automotive industry who in some way works on tech innovations. 

The atmosphere of the discussion was so pleasant that an interesting exchange of knowledge and insights took place. As always according to our usual principle: "educate, entertain and inspire". There were very transparent answers about where the focus is at the moment, where the challenges are, how the topic of innovation and especially innovation scouting is approached in every company.  Of course, the discussion was also about all possible facets of strategic partnerships, a few example stories were shared and the key learnings collected.

And as in every episode, the guests answer not only the technical questions, but also a few questions about their personal path, outlook on life, etc. So if you want to know, for example, which book influenced the guests the most and why is that, stay tuned for the episode until the end.

Tune in and enjoy!

Podcast #021 - Wayne Burgess

In this episode we introduce Wayne Burgess and frankly in the design world he needs no introduction. There are some star designers who have had a massive impact on the automotive industry over the last few decades. Wayne Burgess is one of those personalities who has become so well known around the world - that man IS A LEGEND. The design world knows him. The design world loves him.

Why?

Because Wayne doesn't know kindness, empathy and compassion from textbooks, but really lives them. Wayne constantly helps others, celebrate other's success, supports people in his network and actively lives kindness as one of his core values. In this episode you will discover how he became such a kind and empathetic leader.

Of course, this episode is very much about the design world - its past, present and future, the highlights of Wayne's career working on TXI taxi design, later at Aston Martin and his very long time  - over 17 years - at Jaguar Land Rover, most recently in the role Design Director for Jaguar production and SVO vehicles. Additionally, Wayne talked about his new responsibilities at Ola Electric and the challenge of delivering great design for everyday mobility solutions versus exciting concept cars of the past.

Yes, it is the most personal and moving interview that was ever done on this podcast. Design related part is fascinating and personality related part is moving and inspiring. May many, especially young leaders of this world, be inspired and follow this example of Wayne. 

Tune in and enjoy!

Podcast #020 - Yaniv Maimon and Giuseppe Serio

It’s time for the next Elite Experts Conferences’ podcast episode. The topic of this episode is „Automotive cybersecurity in a highly connected world - a battle that can be won at all?“. Our guests this time are two experts from Upstream Security team, an Israeli scale-up providing industry-leading cyber threat protection:

- Giuseppe Serio is the VP Market Development and

- Yaniv Maimon is Director of Vehicle Security Operations Center (VSOC) 

Why are these two the perfect people to talk to about this topic? Well, Giuseppe knows both the startup and the corporate world and worked at IBM for over two decades on the very topic of cybersecurity before his start at Upstream. In addition, due to his role as VP Market Development, Giuseppe has excellent knowledge about the developments in the market and the latest trends.

Yaniv complements this perfectly with his deep technical knowledge and also has many years of experience in cybersecurity at IBM, Deloitte and also Boston Consulting Group and their clients. The fact that Yaniv started his career with studies in management and psychology but also in security and diplomacy for executives results in an explosive mix of knowledge. One of the skills of such experts is, for example, predicting the hacker's thoughts and actions and taking appropriate measures to stop the hacker. You always have to be smarter than your opponent - not an easy task.

The topics of discussion were: security of application programming interface (API), some real life scenarios, digital twins, trust and verify‘ approach in cybersecurity, some usual and unusual cases of cyberattacks, traditional IT SOCs and the VSOCs, requirements for the hardware etc.  As you can see we approached that topic on the technical level and also always when it was possible showing some practical examples.

Additionally, we talked about collaborations, search for talents - btw Upstream team is always looking for new talents - and future challenges and opportunities. And of course, as in every episode, we get to learn from the life wisdom and insights of these two exciting personalities - that is no less captivating than the technical part of the podcast.

Feel free to tune in and enjoy our approach to "educate, entertain and inspire”!

Podcast #019 - David Tobler, Jessy Bridier, Florian Altenwegner and Piero Della Mura

The topic of this premium panel is: "Opportunities and challenges in modern high performance bonding". Straight away for all those who want to scroll on quickly if bonding is not your topic. Please pay attention, that as always we talk not only about the technologies themselves, but also about the business strategic factors, business decisions, trends - and this is so strongly interconnected, that it can be a highly interesting episode, for all of you, who are working in the field of automotive and transportation engineering. 

In fact, for anyone doing anything in lightweight design in the mobility sector, it's mandatory. Well mandatory is a strong word, because we can't decide about your free time, but we would highly recommend it to everyone, let's put it that way. And if bonding really isn't your thing, then the episode is worth it even just for the life wisdom that the guests always share with our dear audience at the end. This time it was ingeniously coherent and each guest with his contribution like a fitting piece of the puzzle perfectly complemented the entire whole. 

What a dream team from Sika:

1. David Tobler as Corporate Head Transportation and Aftermarket Business 

2. Jessy Bridier as Corporate Business Development Manager Structural Bonding

3. Florian Altenwegner as Product Manager Assembly Line 

4. Piero Della Mura as Market Field Engineer Transportation 

It was interesting and entertaining to hear how Sika builds partnerships that work, how to create collaborations that dare to be creative and how even crazy ideas have a chance. We talk about plans and about coincidences, about theory and practice and all that with lots of examples from the industry. With a lot of knowledge, with honesty, with humor and with a lot of inspiration - just as always true to our motto "educate, entertain and inspire".

Tune in and enjoy!

Podcast #018 - Viktoria Ilger and Christian Weber

The topic of this premium panel is: "The race against time - a look behind the scenes at innovations scouting". By focusing on how huge companies do innovation scouting at startups and live co-creation, this episode is highly recommended for all tech startups that are in the mobility topics. But it's also equally interesting for any global player working in the tech space who wants to do innovation scouting or even actively build their own startup hub. We have invited brilliant guests who could report exactly about that and share their experience.

Let's welcome our exciting guests:

- Viktoria Ilger as Team Lead Startup Initiative at Creators Expedition which is a startup initiative at AVL. 

 - Christian Weber as Global Director Advanced Engineering ADAS & Technology Council at Continental 

We talked about so many topics:

- How did AVL decide to create this kind of startup initiative

- How is Christian related to the actual startup hub program called "co-pace" at Continental 

- Which topics are currently highly relevant in innovation scouting

- How a startup can get in contact and how long does this process take

- What would be the best pitch

- Some highly interesting co-cretion success stories were shared

- What are the key learnings from failed collaborations

- What are the most important success criteria for great collaborations?

- And many many many more interesting topics and insights…

And as always, remember that at the end of each episode our guests share a bit of their life experience and wisdom with us and as every time these answers are at least as exciting as the technical part. Tune in and enjoy!

Podcast #017 - Shuki Herzlinger

The title of this episode of the Elite Experts Conferences' podcast is „Eye-Net Mobile - for more safety on the road“. Our guest in this episode is Shuki Herzlinger, VP of Business Development at Eye-Net Mobile.

In this episode especially experts from the OEM sector should pay attention - especially if 'safety vision - aiming for zero' is your most important goal. Eye-Net is a tech company from Israel that aims to save many lives, especially those of vulnerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists, scooter drivers and so on by offering V2X accident prevention solutions and using smartphones and relying on existing cellular networks. In case of danger, road users, including car drivers, will get a real-time pre-collision alert and have enough time to react. 

Tune in and let Shuki tell you how mature the technology is, which projects with exciting partners have already happened and why this technology is already symbiotic with existing ADAS systems and perfectly complements them. Enjoy!

Podcast #016 - Abdullah Jaber, Michael Nimtsch and Dr. Stefan Binnewies

In this episode of the Elite Experts Conferences podcast we take a look behind the scenes of a collaboration between a tech startup Trailer Dynamics and a global player in the transportation industry  Krone Commercial Vehicle Group. Let’s feel the magic of this special cooperation that actually came out of a cold email. We not only look at the technical details of Trailer Dynamics' technology and its role in decarbonizing the transportation industry, but also at the cooperation between Trailer Dynamics and Krone.

The stage is set for our new guests: 

- Abdullah Jaber: co-founder and Head of Development at Trailer Dynamics 

- Michael Nimtsch: co-founder and Managing Director at Trailer Dynamics

- Dr. Stefan Binnewies: Member of the Management Board at Bernard Krone Holding 

What do we learn in this episode:

- What are the basics of the technical implementation of Trailer Dynamic’s technology and how big is the positive environmental impact

- What is the short-term and long-term vision of Trailer Dynamics

- What is Krone's vision for the future and how can Trailer Dynamics help there along the way

- How Trailer Dynamics had also experienced very dark hours and  why giving up was never an option

- What made Krone management team put so much trust in this particular startup 

It's exciting knowledge, it's fun and entertaining, it's inspiring. Because as in every episode we don't just learn technical details, we also get to know the top lessons learned by our guests, we discover their leadership lessons, we learn what inspires them and what makes them feel more optimistic and empowered about the future. 

Podcast #015 - Premium Panel "Autonomous Driving & ADAS - progress towards the big vision“

This podcast episode "Autonomous Driving & ADAS - progress towards the big vision" is a very special episode, because it's once again a Premium Panel with outstanding guests:

- Bernhard Müller-Bessler as Head of Autonomous Solutions at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

- Georg List as Vice President of Corporate Strategy at AVL

- Dr. Sascha J. Semmler as Head of Innovation Continental Business Area Autonomous Mobility at Continental 

It’s very honest, very entertaining, very challenging. It's again a mix of education, entertainment and inspiration - not only for those who are fully into AD & ADAS but also interested in e.g. effective collaborations between different players. No matter what sector you come from, be it agile startup or established global player - everyone will discover something useful for oneself.

This episode could also get another title: ‚Bringing honesty to a new level’. Why? Because once again our great guests, each one a unique personality, made it easy to create a pleasant atmosphere where knowledge was exchanged, where past, present and future challenges and difficulties were discussed very openly. Of course, there were also discussions about the solutions. One of them is the topic - collaborations. Insights were given about trends, developments processes, but also what do you do when you have in cooperation partner, a customer and also a competitor at the same time? How do you discover promising technologies in the startup sector at a very early stage and develop them together? How to sustainably and collegially build an entire ecosystem of partners? And many more topics.

Dry and boring? We can't serve you with that. Optimistic, energetic, entertaining and with a sense of humor - well, then you've come to the right place. So, be prepared for an exciting episode and enjoy listening!

Podcast #014 - Premium Panel "Battery industry paradigm - plan for mass production and permanent innovation adoption“

If you are looking for 'dry, factual and boring' - you won't find it here. If you're looking for educating solid knowledge, entertaining positive spirit and inspiring insights, you've come to the right place. Because with these three great guests, this panel couldn't be anything but brilliant:

- Yann Vincent, CEO at ACC - Automotive Cells Company

- Dominique SCHEIDER, Head of Industry Strategy and Marketing for Transportation EMEA at Rockwell Automation

- Dr. Grzegorz (Greg) Ombach, Executive Vice President and Head of Battery Systems & Head of Group Strategy and Innovation at DRÄXLMAIER Group

What can you expect from that panel?

Yann, for example, had to answer the following questions:

- What did 2021 mean for ACC’s development

- What is ACC’s strategy to outperform competition like CATL, LG etc

- What are the key points that Europe can learn from Asia in battery production

- Which of ACC’s goals can be achieved more efficiently through a collaboration - listen to that - there is a huge business case behind that for some of our listeners!

Dominique contributed a lot of knowledge with regard to:

- What will be the major challenges in ramping up EV battery manufacturing to the mass production levels required

- What factors need to come together to enable flourishing battery mass production in Europe

- Details about the partnership with Cadenza and other strategic partnerships

- How can new players compete on price and/or battery performance

The questions for Greg were no less challenging:

- What are the biggest challenges on the way to mass production

- Some great examples of successful partnerships in the industry and an analysis what are the main success factors

- Great analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of increasing joint ventures between battery cell manufacturers and OEMs in the creation of new gigafactories 

- Key learnings from working with suppliers and logistics providers to minimize emissions from the movement and storage of battery materials

And there will be many more relevant questions and insightful answers. Enjoy listening!

Podcast #013 - Benyamin Parto and Izac Assia

In this episode we had the honor to welcome the next brilliant guests in the Elite Experts Conferences podcast: Benyamin Parto as Director of Business Development and Izac Assia as Director of Product Management at Foresight Automotive. 

Foresight Automotive is an Israeli company and was founded in 2015 to be a strong player in the design, development and commercialization of stereo/quad camera vision systems for the automotive industry. Foresight’s stereoscopic technology is derived from its major shareholder Magna B.S.P’s field-proven security technology that has been deployed worldwide for almost 20 years and is IP-protected by patents. It incorporates 3D video analysis, advanced algorithms for image processing and sensor fusion. 

We talked in this episode about highly relevant topics like: 

• historical landscape of stereoscopic technology
• benefits of stereoscopic technology and some practical examples 
• higher purpose and driving force of Foresight Automotive 
• 'plug & play' software systems vs. tailor-made solutions for every customer
• trends and in sensor fusion and in ADAS in general 
• and we also talked about the possible causes of what makes Israel in particular so unique, why it has deservedly risen to become THE start up and now even scale up nation

We wish you enjoyable listening!

Podcast #012 - Jürgen Pfeifer, Alessandro Dini, Kevin Rice and Xavier Blanc Baudriller

“Passion“. That was probably the most used word in connection with this Elite Experts Conferences podcast episode. Next to TEOREMA, of course. Because this whole special edition episode of our technology podcast is about Teorema - the world first completely virtual concept car created and presented by Pininfarina in the summer 2021.

The Pininfarina team worked not only in an internal collaboration between Italy and China, but also with some great collaboration partners who contributed brilliantly to the technology side. Which projects get usually attention from Elite Experts Conferences? Those where innovative technologies, efficient collaborations, great personalities and sustainable thinking and acting come together.

It is our pleasure to welcome our great guests:

• Xavier Blanc Baudriller - Head of Experience and Product Design at Pininfarina,
• Kevin Rice - Chief Creative Officer at Pininfarina, 
• Jürgen Pfeifer, Head of Mechanics & Hardware Engineering from Continental Engineering Services and 
• Alessandro Dini, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer from WayRay.

And how is „passion" involved here? Well, you take four outstanding individuals, all passionate about their field, and leave them with Dr. Ludmilla Derr for just about 2 hours who is also known for being full of enthusiasm for innovative technologies and efficient collaborations.  What comes out is an exciting podcast episode that educates, entertains and inspires. Enjoy listening!

Podcast #011 - Nick Grewal and David Hudson

„The Future of Electric Propulsion“ - the next Elite Experts Conferences’ podcast episode is online! What an atmosphere! We don’t want to promise too much, but this has become the most heartfelt, entertaining and personal episode yet. Our guests this time are Nick Grewal  - CEO and President at ePropelled and David Hudson  - Head of EV Strategy at ePropelled. Anyone who has been in the EEC network for a while knows how important collaborations are to us and how much we care about creating the most exciting connections in the industry. In this episode, two worlds meet, two great personalities that couldn't have complemented each other better. One world is the corporate world which is based on David Hudson's rich experience, shaped by many years of working at Jaguar Cars and most recently at Tata Motors. The other world comes from the life experience of Nick Grewal, who instead knows the startup world so well, having been involved in 40 (yes, 40!) tech startups as an entrepreneur and investor.  It was brilliant to learn from both worlds, from both guests. And it's great that these learnings are now combined to make ePropelled a success.

Now, what will we learn in this episode?

- What is special about ePropelled and their vision.

- How to be strategically aligned and focused

- The guests' wise, motivational and inspirational life mottos - which are now printed out and hanging in Ludmilla Derr’s office - no kidding!

- Motivation and energy levels are not a matter of age

- Nick and Dave reveal their best approaches on how collaborations between startups and global players become a success

- Nick shares some breathtaking stories from his pilot experience and what he learned from it for business - these are by far the scariest stories in the history of this podcast

- Dave shares his experience on how to work best in multicultural projects

- And much much more.

This episode will also give you an insight behind the scenes of EEC Podcast, because the atmosphere during the recording of the podcast comes across incredibly well - we had a lot of fun and that is so obvious in this episode. 

Podcast #010 - John McNabb and Tobias Speth

It is our special pleasure to present to you the latest episode of the Elite Experts Conferences' podcast: „Innovating Together With Freudenberg Performance Materials“. Our guests in this episode are John McNabb, CTO & Tobias Speth, Application Engineer at Freudenberg Performance Materials.

In this episode we have focused specifically on the automotive industry and one of the latest innovations: friction enhancement materials, namely Friction Inserts.

Dive into this new exciting episode and find out together with us what properties friction enhancement materials have, where they are used, what the typical projects for the use of this technology look like and of course what the most unusual projects look like. Furthermore, we focused on the lightweight effect of this technology and John and Tobias answered a lot of questions and gave real-life examples of how measurable the effect of Friction Inserts is. 

Anyone who has to deal with lightweight construction challenges in the field of e mobility and micromobility, or who wants to achieve greater force transmission by increasing the coefficients of friction in other mechanical areas, should definitely listen in - it's worth it.

Of course, as always, we also discovered the exciting personalities behind the job titles, and it is brilliant how well John and Tobias complemented each other in conversation. We also highlighted the outstanding story of how this innovation Friction Inserts is entangled with a startup. We don't want to reveal too much, but we'll go ahead and say that it will be of interest to the startup world as well as global players. An example of the innovative mindset par excellence. 

Enjoy!

Have more questions about this technology? Feel free to email us at input@eliteexpertsconferences.com and we'll provide you with the answers.

Join our Free Live Workshop - „3 BEST STRATEGIES FOR STARTUPS HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH ESTABLISHED COMPANIES“ 

This workshop is for you if you are CEO, founder or Business Development Manager of a tech startup who: 

• Wants to build sustainable professional networks and to grow your business
• Wants to create long-term win-win collaborations with established global players  

When: June 10, 2021 at 3pm CET

Where: online & live with Dr. Ludmilla Derr

Free registration: https://eliteexpertsconferences.lpages.co/eec_free-workshop_2021_06_10/

PODCAST #009 — Special Edition - Anders Warming, Frank Wu & Albert-Johann Kirzinger 

This is a special edition of our EEC podcast on the subject "The Future of Automotive Design". It is our honor to introduce our guests: Anders Warming, Frank Wu and Albert-Johann Kirzinger. Let's discover together how automotive design will transform as we look to the mobility of the future - connected, autonomous, shared and electric.

Anders Warming is the founder of Warming Design company. Anders was head of exterior design at BMW, at Mini and most recently at Borgward before founding his own company.

Frank Wu is director of design at Beijing Automotive Group. Previously, Frank was lead exterior designer at Cadillac in the US and due to his background as an Asian-American he has an excellent understanding of both worlds.

Albert-Johann Kirzinger has been head of design at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VCV) and MAN Latin America since 2012. He has worked on designs for Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and VW. At VCV, many vehicles bear his signature: Caddy 4 and 5, Bulli T6, Crafter, MOIA and many more.

PODCAST #008 —Yann Vincent

 In this episode we had the honor to welcome the next outstanding guest in the Elite Experts Conferences podcast: Yann Vincent, CEO at Automotive Cells Company. ACC is one of Europe’s newest high-tech companies. Backed by Saft -Total  and Groupe PSA-Opel, ACC’s goal is to power the future of the automotive industry by innovating in battery technology.

The ACC aim to produce sustainable, affordable, high-capacity, longer-life batteries. An R&D center, new state-of-the art facility in France and gigafactories in France and in Germany will be build. It takes a lot of leadership skills and experience to meet the high expectations. Yann Vincent has immense experience in the automotive industry, which he demonstrated most recently in his position as Executive Vice President and Industrial Director for over 6 years at PSA.

We talked about highly relevant topics like: 

⁃ increasing demand for batteries in the course of electrification

⁃ ACC's challenges and vision and positioning as European manufacturer 

⁃ why it is important to stay a startup company 

PODCAST #007 — Dr. Francesco Iorio &

Dr. Massimiliano Moruzzi 

Are you curious to learn about a new technology that lets us think beyond the limits of human imagination? Design, automation, AI, advanced computational science - it's all there in this episode! This time our podcast guests are: Dr. Francesco Iorio - CEO at Augmenta and Dr. Massimiliano Moruzzi - Head of Business Development & Cognitive Engineering at Augmenta. Massimiliano previously led research and development of substantial innovations in intelligent robotics and advanced materials. Francesco was the Director of Computational Science Research at Autodesk, where he spearheaded the creation of generative design. 

Augmenta has developed a revolutionary form of generative design that combines AI and computational techniques to change the way we engineer solutions to complex problems. Imagine what this means: Rather than simply representing the user's design intent, as all traditional design software does, Augmenta’s generative design systems use AI to learn from both real and simulated worlds, generating extremely novel and high performing designs and then empowering users to explore a wide range of possible solutions. This new way of working augments human beings’ abilities, helping them be more creative, and freeing them from their own limitations, biases and constraints.

 PODCAST #006 — Fabian Hediger 

Our guest this time: Fabian Hediger! Fabian is co-founder and CEO of Worldwebforum and co-founder and president of the board of directors of beecom. Fabian’s path was anything but easy, even though nowadays his company beecom delivers great results and the best of the best from the digital world are coming to the Worldwebforum:

- Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak

- John Sculley, CEO of Apple for 10years

- Claude Zellweger, Director of Design at Google

- Glenn Gore, Chief Architect at Amazon Web Services

- Mark Thompson, CEO-Coach of Steve Jobs & Richard Branson

Listen in this episode about the fascinating story of the Worldwebforum and about the challenges of beecom. These are magical moments when strong people with immense experience tell about their path. It's not that these people never worry, never make mistakes or always know how to go on. But these personalities have the courage to stand up again after EVERY fall!

 PODCAST #005 — Dr. Tamara Baksht 

Our guest this time is Dr. Tamara Baksht, the CEO at VisIC Technologies. Tamara has been leading the company for more than 10 years. She studied physics at Tomsk State University in Russia and completed her PhD at Tel Aviv University. Tamara has a lot of experience with multi-disciplinary gallium nitride (GaN) projects, starting with research work, but also budgeting, transferring products to production and providing customer support. 

In 2010 she founded VisIC Technologies to make it a technology licensor and a provider of high-voltage, high-volume GaN devices to the rapidly growing power conversion market. Nowadays they offer a wide range of inverters and on-board chargers. High-voltage GaN technology benefits numerous markets beyond the automotive sector. 

We talked with Tamara about the developments in the automotive industry, about the past, present and future of semiconductor technologies, about innovative thinking, about the higher purpose of VisIC Technologies, business cooperations and leadership challenges. 

 PODCAST #004 — Thomas Ingenlath 

Our outstanding guest this time: CEO of Polestar, Thomas Ingenlath! We always announce in the podcast „Whether at live events or in the digital world, we bring together cool promising tech startups with exciting innovative global players and generate a platform where the world of sustainable technology meets.“ In this episode it couldn't be more fitting - we have a little bit of both - back-up from established automotive companies, but also elements of start-up dynamics in the daily work at Polestar. 

Dynamic, sustainable, efficient, purist, bold, noble - simply Polestar!

Thomas answered many technical and strategic questions - honestly, competently and thoughtfully!

EEC Podcast would not be EEC Podcast without a personal, inspiring touch!

Thomas also shared with us many personal insights:

- Who and what was crucial in his career

- What advice he would have given young Thomas ...and much more!

Feel this energy, inner conviction and drive! Let it inspire you!

 PODCAST #003 — MARC JACOBS

Our guest in this episode is Marc Jacobs, CEO at Molecular Plasma Group (MPG). MPG provides innovative eco-friendly surface functionalisation solutions. These solutions can replace highly toxic, chemicals-based systems in a wide range of industries such as biomedical technology and advanced composites. Here we focused on composite bonding in automotive industry. MPG’s MolecularGRIP™ technology enables adhesive bonding of even the most challenging materials such as PP, carbon fibre and Teflon. The precursors used can be organic molecules, nanoparticles, biomolecules. The process  is a scalable, dry, ambient and atmospheric process. Additionally, MPG develops customized solutions using the MolecularGRIP™ technology for improved adhesion between difficult-to-bond materials with custom-designed primer layers and Leaf™ technology for nano-structured, water-repellent and non-stick coatings. In this episode we talk about composite bonding in automotive industry, sustainability in bonding technologies, business scaling, innovative thinking, business cooperations and leadership. 

Podcast #002 — Gianfranco Pizzuto

Our guest in this episode is an extraordinarily inspiring courageous personality and a charismatic passionate visionary Gianfranco Pizzuto.

Gianfranco is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of international business experience. In 2007 he was Fisker Automotive’s first investor and co-founder. He spent the last 13 years in the automotive industry working as an inspiring consultant and covering senior positions specializing in PHEV and EV. He also promoted the introduction of Jaguar's first all-electric vehicle in Italy, the Jaguar I-Pace. Additionally, Gianfranco is the owner of the Scuderia-E brand. Gianfranco's latest top project is the creation of an Italian-Turkish Formula E team together with Mark Lander, founder of IMECAR Elektronik, Massimiliano Zocchi, head of DMove.it and Armağan Arabul, founder of Elektron Innovative.

In this episode we were talking about developments in the automotive industry, innovative sustainability, e racing, higher purpose of his work, inspiring projects, business cooperations, lifelong learning and leadership.

Podcast #001 — Oren Ezer & Dr. Stefan Tongur

Our guests in this episode are Oren Ezer, CEO at ElectReon and Dr. Stefan Tongur, the Business Development Manager at ElectReon.

ElectReon Wireless Ltd. is an Israeli publicly-traded company developing an electric road system (ERS). The company is using dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) technology - inductive transmission via electromagnetic fields from the roadbed. The technology enables a shared infrastructure that significantly reduced the need to charge vehicle's battery during day/overnight and decreases the size of the battery. It can support any type of EVs and is especially suitable for autonomous EVs.

In this episode we talk about the development of the automotive and transportation industry, business models, innovative thinking, business cooperations and leadership.