Suze Gehem  is a much sought out speaker and a sustainable entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of De Groene Grachten focusing on making canal houses more sustainable. Suze also developed De Groene Menukaart, a free online platform for making historic buildings more sustainable, whether it is a home, fort or church. She is also the founder of Rooftop Revolution and Green Light District. which unleashes a true roof revolution to bring new nature reserves back to the city. She is a board member of the National Green Fund and ambassador of NEMO Science Museum. She is also a member of the Amsterdam Sustainability Council, an advisory council of the alderman that actively thinks and works towards a future-proof and sustainable city.

Since 2007, Lenaerts (1966) has led the Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology Group that she founded in Antwerp. The Belgian professor has also been vice-rector of Valorization & Development since 2016. In this role, she serves as a catalyst and connector for Antwerp’s innovation ecosystem. Lenaerts holds many executive positions in the academic world and beyond, including on the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Governing Board. She studied and obtained her PhD at KU Leuven and IMEC. She will be the first female rector of TU/e.

Jack Doomernik trained as an electrical engineer and has more than 35 years of experience in engineering and advice for the rail and utility sectors. Jack received his PhD from the Faculty of Applied Economic Sciences of the University of Antwerp in 2017 and since 2016 as a professor he is responsible for the Smart Energy research program at Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. In addition, he is an independent entrepreneur in the field of asset management and energy.

Mark Boneschanscher is the managing director of the Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES). He believes that both science and industry have a crucial role to play in the energy transition. He is therefore actively involved in setting up scientific and public-private collaborations in EIRES. His goal is to speed up the energy transition by industrializing innovative renewable energy systems.

Boneschanscher has a background in physical chemistry. He received his PhD in 2014 from Utrecht University on the topic of fundamental studies of atomic and nanocrystalline materials with honeycomb geometry, on which he published several high impact papers. After his PhD he worked as a program officer at the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM). He coordinated various research funding instruments and evaluation panels, acted as institute liaison for the energy research institute DIFFER, and set up a successful lobby for new funds for the general and technical sciences (sector plans). During the transition of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) he was involved in setting up the new Institute Organization (NWO-I) in which he became coordinator of the institute liaisons. In 2019 he was asked to set up EIRES, of which he became the managing director at the launch in 2020.

Sasha Koppert is programme-manager and coordinator of the JTF-grant programme of Vlissingen-Vlissingen Oost, West-Noord-Brabant and Zuid-Limburg at Stimulus Programma- management. Stimulus Programma-management (‘Programme Management’) is an implementing organisation of European funding programmes and part of the regional government Province of North Brabant in The Netherlands. It manages and facilitates several European, national and regional grant programs for the provinces of North Brabant, Limburg, Gelderland, Zeeland & Flanders on behalf of the European Commission and the Dutch state. The office of Stimulus Programma-management is in Eindhoven.

Michael Boot received his MSc. and PhD. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology in 2005 and 2010, respectively. Both degrees were obtained in Combustion Technology. In 2009, Michael co-founded Progression-Industry BV to commercialize various automotive technologies in the domains of waste energy recovery and biofuels. From January 2011, Michael became a part-time assistant professor and innovation manager at his alma mater in the Combustion Technology research group. In 2012, Michael co-founded Progression Capital as an investment vehicle geared towards young, automotive-oriented startups.