Speakers - AsiaBerlin

Unleashing the Power of Voices: Explore our Diverse Lineup of Inspiring Speakers form different industries.

Alex von Frankenberg

Managing Director of the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)

Dr. Alex von Frankenberg is Managing Director of the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), responsible for software and life science investments. At HTGF he successfully raised four funds with very significant private and public commitment, established HTGF as the leading seed investor in Germany, significantly outperforming the initial goals of the fund.

Alexander Görlach

Journalist, Author and Professor

Alexander Görlach is the founder of the debate-magazine The European and currently he serves as an op-ed contributor to the New York Times, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and the South China Morning Post. He is a columnist to the business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, Deutsche Welle and Focus Online. He is a frequent commentator on German News Channel WeLT TV.

Dr. Annika Hauptvogel

Head of Technology & Innovation Management at Siemens

Annika Hauptvogel has been Head of Technology and Innovation Management at Siemens since June 2021. In this function she is responsible for the strategy of Siemens Technology and reports directly to the CTO of Siemens AG.

Chika Yamamoto

Angel Investor, Founder & CEO of Crossbie

Chika founded a few startups, worked in an early stage startup, and built a location based mobile service ground up in a corporation. Such services include: ICT, Ed-tech, location and SNS based consumer service, ad-tech, and EC retail with logistics behind.

Clas Neumann

Senior VP - Head of Global at SAP Labs Network

As Head of SAP Labs Network, Neumann manages 20 labs globally, including the largest R&D hub outside of Germany, which he grew to over 10,000 talented engineers. He is recognized for his business achievements in Asia and serves as a spokesperson for the Asia Pacific Association of German Industries and the Chairperson of the German Chamber of Commerce East China.

Eunseo Yi

CEO & Founder of 123 Factory

Eunseo is Founder of 123 Factory. She worked as an independent researcher by Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology Europe Office in Berlin and reporting about the latest German industry and technology for the Korean government.

Dr. Feiyu Xu

Senior Vice President, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence at SAP SE

Dr. Feiyu Xu is a leader in AI strategy and implementation, currently responsible for infusing AI into business processes at SAP to support their customers in becoming intelligent enterprises. With broad experience in the total cycle of AI and a background in research and development, she has also founded and managed a spin-off company in mobile multilingual digital assistants.

Dong Han

CEO/Co-founder of reInvent.ai

Dong is the CEO of reInvent.ai, focusing on building foundation models and generative AI. He brings more than 15 years of experience in AI research, commercialization and technology incubation.

Haris Rehmann

Entrepreneur | Venture Builder | Startup Ecosystem Enabler

Haris is a seasoned entrepreneur and venture builder who has spent the last 15 years building and scaling startups across various industries, including sustainability-focused mobility, logistics, smart cities, energy transition, and proptech. He is passionate about building sustainable business models and facilitating collaborations between tech and economic ecosystems.

Hendrik Remigereau

Founding Director at Merantix AI Campus

Hendrik is the Founding Director of the Merantix AI Campus Berlin, a co-working community and knowledge transfer platform for the European AI ecosystem.

Ikuo C. Hiraishi

Serial Entrepreneur & Angel Investor

Serial Entrepreneur & Angel Investor based in Tokyo. Started Internet-related startups in the late 1990s and made two successful exits: one IPO & One M&A Exit. He also created an investment business in seed and early-stage startups in 2011.

Stephan Balzer

Entrepreneur, TEDx Organizer, Speaker & Moderator

Stephan Balzer has always been interested in new ideas and visions: for 20 years he has been leading the Berlin based idea and innovation agency red onion. Establishing the TEDx conference format in Germany and bringing the Singularity University Summit to Berlin – he advanced the discourse on the challenges of digitalization and technological disruption.

Lukas Pauly

Managing Director at Enpal

Lukas is Managing Director at Enpal Production - a subsidiary of Europe's first GreenTech unicorn Enpal - responsible for Enpal's global production partnerships and supply chain diversification efforts.

Nguyen Xuan Tinh

President of the Vietnam-Germany Innovation Network

Prof Nguyen Xuan Tinh is the Head of the Research Group of Spatial Information Management and Modelling of TU Dortmund University, Department of Spatial Planning and teh President of the Vietnam-Germany Innovation Network.

Parag Khanna

Founder & CEO of Climate Alpha

Parag Khanna is a leading global strategy advisor, world traveler, and bestselling author. He is Founder & CEO of Climate Alpha, and Founder & Managing Partner of FutureMap.

Dr. Julia Münch

Secretary General at Japanisch-Deutsches Zentrum Berlin (JDZB)

Dr. Julia Münch

Secretary General at Japanisch-Deutsches Zentrum Berlin (JDZB)

Rohit Kapur

Managing Director of Dezan Shira & Associates, India

Rohit is the Managing Director of Dezan Shira & Associates, India. Throughout his career spanning over 38 years and counting, has worked in multinationals and engineering companies in various capacities and positions of responsibility.

Rotem Inbar

Program Director at German Accelerator

Rotem Blanc Inbar is a seasoned entrepreneur and leader who helps German startups expand their business in Southeast Asia through German Entrepreneurship Asia. With over 15 years of experience in product and program management, entrepreneurship, and management consulting, she is committed to empowering entrepreneurs and driving positive change through innovation.

Shradha Sharma

Founder & CEO of YourStory Media

Shradha Sharma, founder and CEO of YourStory Media, is on a mission to create 10 million entrepreneurs by 2030 through her platform, which has touched over 10 million lives and shared 150,000 entrepreneurship stories. She is recognized as a top 40 under 40 entrepreneur in India and has interviewed influential leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ratan Tata, and Sundar Pichai.

Stephanie Richter

CEO & Co-Founder of AdTech Specialist Adspert

Stephanie Richter speaker is an accomplished entrepreneur who has founded two startups - one providing quantitative trading models for financial services and banks, and the other offering AI software for Amazon ads. In addition to her professional accomplishments, she supports the Woman of SaaS Network and enjoys making cocktails in her free time.

Prof. Dong Sun

Secretary for Innovation,
Technology and Industry of HKSAR Government

Professor Dong Sun, a world-renowned scholar and scientist, was recently appointed as the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, after having made breakthroughs in robotics combined with various micro-engineering tools. He is also a Fellow of multiple academies including the Canadian Academy of Engineering, European Academy of Sciences and Arts, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, IEEE, and ASME.

Taha Adnan

Marketing Manager / Start-Up Scouting Lead at INAM

Taha Adnan plays a pivotal role at INAM by scouting for the most promising advanced technologies while also managing INAM's marketing initiatives. He is also an Ambassador for Battery Associates that brings professionals from every part of the battery industry to accelerate sustainable battery innovation.

Timon Rupp

Founder & CEO of The Drivery

Timon believes in the creative power of highly connected experts and entrepreneurs. With the founding of The Drivery GmbH in 2019 and The Drivery Holding GmbH, he created a global marketplace for mobility innovators with subsidiaries in Berlin, Shanghai, Yokohama & Korea.

Dr. Tina Klüwer

Director at K.I.E.Z AI

Tina Klüwer

Dr. Tina Klüwer is a recognized expert in artificial intelligence and its implementation in business. As Director of K.I.E.Z. - the Artificial Intelligence Entrepreneurship Center, she heads an initiative of Science & Startups, the network of startup services of the Berlin universities and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Upen Barve

Founder & Curator of SAP Intelligent Enterprise Institute – Berlin Chapter

Upen Barve is VP and Head of Future Hub Engagements, at SAP New Ventures & Technologies, SAP SE. He is also the Founder & Curator of SAP Intelligent Enterprise Institute, Berlin Chapter, and a Board Member of the AsiaBerlin Forum.

Vikram Gupta

Founder and Managing Partner of IvyCap Ventures

Vikram has held leadership positions across well-known companies in India and abroad. He conceptualized and established India's first endowment Fund at IIT, Delhi which was launched by the Honorable President of India in 2019.

Dalvir Singh

EDB Singapore of Regional Vice President, Europe

Mr. Singh leads the Central Europe team that is responsible for advancing Singapore’s business engagements with companies in the DACH region, the Nordics, Eastern Europe and Israel.

Manori Unambuwe

Founder / CEO, Accentae Consulting

Manori served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Germany. She is a specialist in international market development and expansion, she supports and mentors Sri Lankan startups to scale its operations to EU.

Yiran Li

Chief Representative at Berlin Business Desk China

Yiran has served in big international corporates as well as SMEs in Germany and China with a comprehensive understanding of the both countries, especially in the economic context.

Jessica Novia

Co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at CarbonEthics

Jessica has always been active in contributing to social cause. On top of her sustainability initiatives in Unilever, she is also actively taking climate action through her Social Enterprise named CarbonEthics.

Siddharth Bhasin

Senior Consultant

Siddharth is Involved at the intersection of technology and business for 10 plus years. Worked as a founder, Portfolio manager for a VC fund and as an advisor/consultant to governments for start-up policy. Looking to add 5 plus startups in my angel portfolio and heavily interested in cross border exchange of technology, especially between the Asian/European markets.

Dr. Renata Thiébaut

COO of Green Proposition Consulting Firm

Dr. Renata Thiébaut is the COO of Green Proposition Consulting Firm and Professor at GISMA University of Applied Sciences. She has worked in China for 16 years with some of the largest German companies and Alibaba Group.

Maximilian Schäfer

Co-Founder and Managing Director of InstaFreight

Maximilian Schaefer is Co-Founder and Managing Director of InstaFreight, a leading LogTech company. In 12 years of professional experience, he was able to build up his expert knowledge in logistics.

Tarek Hassan

Head of Digital Transformation Center Vietnam | GIZ

Tarek is the Head of the Digital Transformation Center Vietnam at GIZ, supporting the Vietnamese government in shaping digital transformation that is human-centered and sustainable.

Deniz Ficicioglu

Co-Founder of BettaF!sh

Before co-founding BettaF!sh, innovation manager and accomplished author Deniz Ficicioglu had already published two cookbooks and researched the future of food while working at various food start-ups.

Jörg Rheinboldt

Managing Director at APX Axel Springer Porsche

Jörg's own entrepreneurial journey began with founding Denkwerk in 1994 while he was still in university. Soon after he co-founded Alando.de AG, which was promptly acquired by eBay.

Naveed Arshad

Co-founder and CEO of NeuBolt Energy Services

Naveed research interests include energy and climate informatics, electric vehicles, and energy transition in the developing world. Dr. Arshad has published over sixty research articles in top international journals and conferences.

Varun Sridhar

CEO at PayTm Money

Mr.Varun holds close to two decades of valuable experience in leading the digital transformation journey of some of the top retail banks in India and abroad and is passionate about setting up and scaling businesses from the ideation stage.

Thomas Duscha

Co-Founder and Managing Director at Swobbee

Thomas is passionate about mobility and technology and is an expert in the automation and industrialization of batteries and electric drives. He has valuable experience in introducing innovative products from his international business career.

Karena Belin

Co-Founder & COO at AngelHub.io

Karena is helping startups scale and any stakeholder to connect with the innovative power of the ecosystem and organizer of global conferences.

Anandi Iyer

Director at Fraunhofer Office

Anandi has been working in the field of collaborative Technology and Innovation in the Indo-European corridor for the last more than 20 years. She is a member of the Indo German Expert Group on Digitalisation set up by the two Heads of Government.

Anandi Iyer is the Director & Head of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, India Office.

Andreas Bondan Satriadi

ICT Planner at Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas

Andreas is currently working as an ICT Planner for government of Indonesia, where he is responsible for developing and implementing the national's ICT roadmap.

Manjunath Sekhar

Head- Sustainable Urban Mobility and Green Urban Mobility Innovation Living Lab at GIZ

Manjunath has over 15 years of experience in the development sector covering urban infrastructure, transportation, renewable energy and healthcare projects across geographies in Asia and Africa.

Kim Ngọc Thanh Nga

Head of Ecosystem Development Department, Vietnam National Innovation Center, Ministry of Planning and Investment

Mrs. Kim Nga has been selected to join the Ministry Taskforce for National Innovation Strategy to draft the Vietnam National Strategy for Industrial Revolution 4.0. One of the key results of the Strategy was the establishment of the NIC in 2019.

Hoang Minh Nguyen

CEO and Founder of IoTeamVN

Mr. Minh, CEO and founder of IoTeamVN, with 18 years of experience in ITC and business administration. IoTeamVN provides Energy Efficiency solutions, including real-time energy monitoring services, to industrial and commercial clients, helping them reduce waste and optimize operations.

Carsten Becker

Head of Corporate Center Innovation & Digitalization

Carsten Becker is a leader in the IT, innovation & digitalisation space with over 20 years of experience. He heads the innovation team at TÜV NORD's largest business unit for the implementation of diverse technology and business model projects, with AI as a focal point of his work

Shoba Purushothaman

Co-Founder of Hardskills

Shoba is an experienced entrepreneur who has taken 2 previous start-ups from concept to exit. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, she was a financial journalist for Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal.

Oliver Merlin

Managing Director at IFA Berlin

Oliver is IFA Berlin's Managing Director. He has vast expertise in event management, B2B marketing, exhibition planning, and sponsorship.

Alice Chan

Project Lead at Porsche Digital

Alice is leading Porsche Digital Campus, focusing on Deep Tech, AI, and Web3, and partnering with academia and industry to extend Porsche's AI global reach. She is also an angel investor and enabling business expansion between Asia and Europe.

Ao Kamio

Manager, Strategic Investment at JAPAN AIRLINES VENTURES

Ao is in charge of strategic investment and creating collaboration through JAL's Corporate Venture Capital arm, JAL INNOVATION FUND(JIF). Through the operation of JIF, Ao hopes to build a bridge between startups and Japan.

Dr. Philipp Rösler

Board Member, Managing Director, World Economic Forum

Dr Philipp Rösler holds management consulting mandates as well as supervisory board memberships in known Swiss and international companies.

Wikipedia

Lakimini Wijesundera

Founder and Executive Director at BoardPAC

Lakmini is a Technology entrepreneur who focuses on making Sri Lankan technology products gain global brand recognition. She strives to bring the next wave of unicorns and Forbes-ranked companies that have natural technology innovation talent that is not tapped to its fullest.

Shunji Kurita

Corporate Executive and Chief Representative for Europe, Middle East & Africa Region at Mitsubishi Electric

Shunji Kurita is the Chief Representative for the EMEA region of Mitsubishi Electric. After having held key positions in the USA and Japan, he is now overseeing the company’s contribution to the digital and green transformation of one of its key markets. Under his lead the roughly 13.000 European employees are striving to play their part in the company transforming into a “circular digital engineering company”, with sustainability as a cornerstone, that provides evolved integrated solutions for societal good by co-creation.

Sabrina Garcia

Director of the regional project DigitalSkills2Succeed in Asia“ (India), GIZ

Sabrina Garcia holds a Master's degree in Law and International Relations from the University of Tübingen in Germany and Renmin University of China as well as a Master's degree in Organisational Development from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern in Germany.

Andreas Wagner

President, Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. German Branch

Andreas Wagner heads Mitsubishi Electric’s German operations, which has been active in the country for a strong 45 years. Now more than ever, the mission is to heavily contribute to sustainable energy efficiency spanning sectors from industry, mobility to infrastructure.

Tanah Sullivan

Group Head of Sustainability, GoTo Group

Tanah Sullivan is the Group Head of Sustainability at GoTo and leads its environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts across Gojek, GoTo Financial and Tokopedia.

Amrita Gandikota

Founder at PrimedinFabrik

Amrita's field of work is startup internationalization and innovation exchange specially between Asia and Europe. As an advisor for T Hub in Germany ( global incubator supported by the Govt. of Telangana) and the India Representative of the German Indian Startup exchange program GINSEP (supported by BMWK), she understands the trends and gaps in both ecosystems.

Shrenik Khasgiwala

President and Head of ABG Innovation Fund Aditya Birla Group

Shrenik Khasgiwala

President and Head of ABG Innovation Fund Aditya Birla Group

Mirja Telzerow

HR Director of Europe at Kearney

Mirja Telzerow drives workforce transformation initiatives as the HR Director of Europe at KEARNEY. With expertise in talent development and organisational design, she also helps KEARNEY advise clients on human capital strategies and on how to create innovative people solutions for successful digital transformation.

Renee Pan

Managing Director (Berlin Office) at Guangzhou International Exchange and Cooperation Center

Renee Pan

Managing Director (Berlin Office) at Guangzhou International Exchange and Cooperation Center

Governing Mayor Kai Wegner

Governing Mayor of Berlin

In 2021, Kai Wegner successfully stood in the election to the House of Representatives and was subsequently elected chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In the repeat election, Kai Wegner was re-elected to the House of Representatives on February 12, 2023 and confirmed as the leader of the CDU parliamentary group. Kai Wegner has been Governing Mayor of Berlin since April 27, 2023.

Senator Franziska Giffey

Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises

On March 14, 2018, Franziska Giffey was appointed and sworn in as Federal Minister for Family Affairs , on May 19, 2021 she resigned as Federal Minister. Franziska Giffey was directly elected member of the House of Representatives in her Rudower constituency in Neukölln . From December 21, 2021 to April 27, 2023, Franziska Giffey was Governing Mayor of Berlin. Franziska Giffey has been Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises and Mayor of Berlin since April 27, 2023 .

Kim Ki-Hyun

Director-General of New industry Policy Seoul Metropolitan Government

Kim Ki-Hyun

Director-General of New industry Policy Seoul Metropolitan Government

Allan Chou

Founder of RAIDiCal

Allan Chou is founder of RAIDiCal, a Global early stage tech fund of funds advisory base in Shanghai focused on finding the next global tech phenom in Renewables, AI, IoT and Big Data. He’s an adjunct instructor teaching Corporate Innovation, Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the prestigious Fudan University’s Fanhai International School of Finance (FISF) in Shanghai.

Amelie Richter

Editor at China.Table

Amelie Richter is a sinologist and journalist. For Professional Briefing China.Table, she writes about EU-China relations and other topics related to the People's Republic. She was previously a foreign correspondent for the German Press Agency in Strasbourg and Mexico. She currently lives in Paris.

Atika Nur Rahmania

Head of Regional Development Planning Agency, Jakarta Capital City Government, Indonesia

Atika Nur Rahmania

Head of Regional Development Planning Agency, Jakarta Capital City Government, Indonesia

Sandra Schulze

Area Manager China at Berlin Partner

Sandra Schulze is responsible for the Chinese market at Berlin Partner, the business development agency of Berlin. She has studied and worked in China for several years and supports through her work Berlin-Chinese business cooperations.

Sunplaza Nakano-kun

Singer

Sunplaza Nakano-kun

Youtube

Jittrapon Jirakulsomchok

Innovation Developer at National Innovation Agency

Jittrapon Jirakulsomchok

Innovation Developer at National Innovation Agency

Rainer Seider

Head of Unit International Affairs, Senate Chancellery

Rainer Seider

Head of Unit International Affairs, Senate Chancellery

Norbert Herrmann

Startup Affairs, Berlin Senate - Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises

Norbert Herrmann

Startup Affairs, Berlin Senate - Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises

Swantje Gies

Managing Director at Asia Berlin Forum e.V.

Swantje Gies

Managing Director at Asia Berlin Forum e.V.

Elvir Becirovic

Head of Asia Projects at Senate Dep. for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises

Elvir Becirovic

Head of Asia Projects at Senate Dep. for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises

Dr. Jens Homann

Head of Unit at Senate Dep. for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises

Dr. Jens Homann

Head of Unit at Senate Dep. for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises

ABS2023 Speakers

Unleashing the Power of Voices: Explore our Diverse Lineup of Inspiring Speakers form different industries.

Alex von Frankenberg

Alexander Görlach

Dr. Annika Hauptvogel

Chika Yamamoto

Clas Neumann

Eunseo Yi

Dr. Feiyu Xu

Dong Han

Haris Rehmann

Hendrik Remigereau

Ikuo C. Hiraishi

Stephan Balzer

Lukas Pauly

Nguyen Xuan Tinh

Parag Khanna

Dr. Julia Münch

Dr. Julia Münch

Rohit Kapur

Rotem Inbar

Shradha Sharma

Stephanie Richter

Prof. Dong Sun

Taha Adnan

Timon Rupp

Dr. Tina Klüwer​

Tina Klüwer​

Upen Barve

Vikram Gupta

Dalvir Singh

Manori Unambuwe

Yiran Li

Jessica Novia

Siddharth Bhasin

Dr. Renata Thiébaut

Maximilian Schäfer

Tarek Hassan

Deniz Ficicioglu

Jörg Rheinboldt

Naveed Arshad

Varun Sridhar

Thomas Duscha

Karena Belin

Anandi Iyer

Andreas Bondan Satriadi

Manjunath Sekhar

Kim Ngọc Thanh Nga

Hoang Minh Nguyen

Carsten Becker

Shoba Purushothaman

Oliver Merlin

Alice Chan

Ao Kamio

Dr. Philipp Rösler

Lakimini Wijesundera

Shunji Kurita

Sabrina Garcia

Andreas Wagner

Tanah Sullivan

Amrita Gandikota

Shrenik Khasgiwala

Shrenik Khasgiwala

Mirja Telzerow

Renee Pan

Renee Pan

Governing Mayor Kai Wegner

Senator Franziska Giffey

Kim Ki-Hyun

Kim Ki-Hyun

Allan Chou

Amelie Richter

Atika Nur Rahmania

Atika Nur Rahmania

Sandra Schulze

Sunplaza Nakano-kun

Jittrapon Jirakulsomchok

Jittrapon Jirakulsomchok

Rainer Seider

Rainer Seider

Dr. Tina Klüwer

Tina Klüwer