Chief Innovation Officer, Irish Manufacturing Research (IE)

Dr Andrew Lynch is the Chief Innovation Officer with Irish Manufacturing Research, an independent Industry-led RTO in the Irish State.  Andrew is a founding Director of the EUREKA SMART Manufacturing Instrument, Chairman of the Irish National Steering Committee on Collaborative Robotics, a member of the IMR I4 Steering Committee and a national delegate to the European ManuFuture High Level Group (HLG).  A member of the ECSEL LIASE Committee, Andrew is also a national industrial coordinator and a recognized manufacturing expert within Irish Commercialization funding programs and across a number of EU platforms.  For 20 years prior to his current role, Andrew worked in manufacturing companies, across nearly all sectors; as a senior executive, owner manager and business consultant.  In his current role Andrew has specialized in the development of large nationally funded industrial research projects, engaging multinational corporations and indigenous companies in the areas of advanced manufacturing (e.g. I4.0) and industrial energy efficiency (programs which now include 33 multinationals and over 120 SME partners).  He holds a Degree in Biochemistry, a Master’s Degree in Environmental Analytical Chemistry and a PhD in Engineering.  Happily married with two adored daughters, in his spare time Andrew is a contributor to several business forums and enjoys golf, Pilates, running and hill climbing.

Technical Director, European Factories of the Future Research Association

After obtaining his master of electro-mechanical engineering at the University of Leuven, Chris got involved fairly quickly in European research and innovation programmes.

At EFFRA, Chris Decubber aims at generating consensus on research and innovation priorities among the industrial and research community for the ‘Factories of the Future’ PPP. Chris coordinates the monitoring of the outcome and progress of the ‘Factories of the Future’ PPP and works on knowledge transfer mechanisms that enhance the impact of the FoF PPP.   Chris also initiated the ConnectedFactories Coordination Action which focuses on the developing of pathways to the digitalisation of manufacturing.

Innovation and Technology Director, MONDRAGON Corporation (ES)

Eduardo Beltrán de Nanclares has a BSc. in Electronics and Automation Physics and a MSc. in Electronics and Automation, both from the University of the Basque Country. He is currently Innovation and Technology Director of MONDRAGON Corporation. He has 25 years of experience in Technology and Product Development and Innovation Management, in sectors such as Automotive, Household Appliances and Capital Goods. He worked in General Electric, Tecnalia, Copreci and also in Koniker Technology Centre as its General Manager.

From April 2011 Eduardo Beltrán is member of the board of directors of EFFRA – European Factories of the Future Research Association.

Eduardo Beltrán is the chairman of the Eureka Cluster SMART for Advanced Manufacturing and member of ECSEL group of experts Industry4.E LIASE.

Director Research and Development Funding, Infineon Technologies AG (DE)

Knut Hufeld has been working for Infineon Technologies AG and the former Siemens Semiconductor Division since 1995. He received his diploma in electrical engineering/informatics (M.S. degree) from the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany, in 1993. Knut Hufeld worked in several research departments on system process control, parallel processing and algorithmic characterisation of parasitic effects in circuit design at Siemens Corporate Research and later Infineon. Since 2001 he coordinates funded research programs on European and national scale for Infineon.

Knut Hufeld was active in the Artemis SRA discussion since the beginning and had become a member of the Artemis-IA Steering Board in 2012 and of the Artemis-IA Presidium in 2017. He is also representing Infineon in national and European expert groups as counterpart to the German and European PAs. As coordinator of funded research programs for Infineon Technologies AG, Knut Hufeld is personally involved in several H2020 and ECSEL projects like Productive4.0 or EPI- the European Processor Initiative for Low power High Performance Computing. In 2017 Knut Hufeld became a member of the Advisory Board, the LIASE, of the ECSEL lighthouse initiative Industry4.E on Digital Industry. Knut Hufeld has a long-term experience on PPP activities, representing the Infineon Technologies AG in several strategic research initiatives and organizations like eNova, the strategy platform for e-mobility and autonomous driving of the German Automotive Industry or as steering board member of ETP4HPC, the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing.

Programme Leader, VTT (FI)

Olli Ventä (m), D. Sc. Technology, Research Manager of Industrial Internet. In 2001–2004, Dr. Ventä was the leader of the national technology programme Intelligent Automation Systems (Tekes). In the recent past, he has been the Programme Leader of VTT’s programmes Intelligent Products and Systems (2003–2006), Complex Systems Design (2006–2008), and e-Engineering (2009-12). Dr. Ventä is a Board Member of Finnish Automation Foundation. On EU arenas, Olli Ventä is active in ECSEL (e.g., an SRA chapter leader of Digital Industry and a member of the respective LIASE group), in EFFRA and in BDVA. Dr. Ventä is a Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland, issued by the President of Finland on December 6, 2015.

Chaired professor Industrial Electronics Lulea Univeristy of Technology

Prof. Jerker Delsing received the M.Sc. in Engineering Physics at Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden 1982. In 1988 he received his PhD. degree in Electrical Measurement at the Lund University. During 1985 – 1988 he worked part time at Alfa-Laval – SattControl (now ABB) with development of sensors and measurement technology. In 1994 he was promoted to associate professor in Heat and Power Engineering at Lund University. Early 1995 he was appointed full professor in Industrial Electronics at Lulea University of Technology where he currently is the scientific head of EISLAB, http://www.ltu.se/eislab. His present research profile can be entitled IoT/SoS Automation, with applications to automation in large and complex industry and society systems. Prof. Delsing and his EISLAB group has been a partner of several large EU projects in the field, e.g. Socrades, IMC-AESOP, Arrowhead, FAR-EDGE, Productive4.0 and Arrowhead Tools.

Delsing holds positions as a board member of ARTEMIS, ProcessIT.EU and ProcessIT Innovations.

Dr. Oscar Lazaro is Managing Director of Innovalia Association, the Associated Research Lab founded by the Innovalia Alliance, one of the 3 strategic technology groups in the Basque Country. Innovalia develops technology in the fields of E2E cybersecurity (chip to cloud), quality assurance for high performance IoT/CPS systems, mobile 3D visualisation and AI / big data analytics. Innovalia develops manufacturing quality control instrumentation, quality control software platforms for industry 4.0 and integrated solutions for zero defect manufacturing in automotive, aeronautics, railways and renewable energy markets.

Oscar Lazaro has more than 20 years of experience in the ICT and manufacturing field. Oscar Lazaro is also Visiting Professor at the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of the University of Strathclyde in the area of wireless & mobile communications. He is a permanent representative of Innovalia in EFFRA, main responsible for Innovalia coordination of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Advanced Manufacturing HUB and IDSA Spanish Hub and he has also served to the Future Internet Advisory Board and the Sherpa Group on 5G Action Plan.

Dr Oscar Lazaro has been one of the 3 experts in the high level group supporting the EC in the analysis of the 15 national initiatives in Digitising European Industry (DEI), he is supporting the activities of the I4MS (ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs) Programme since its very beginning and supports Innovalia participation in the Basque DIH. He is also part of the Industry 4.0 Domain Committee of the FIWARE Foundation and regular contributor to the activities of the Industria Conectada 4.0 DIH and Platform working groups at national level. Since, January 2018 he is coordinating the European lighthouse initiative BOOST 4.0 on Big Data Platforms for Industry 4.0

Programme Officer at European Commission

Sandro D’Elia has been working on digital technologies since 1983 (yes, he actually used punched cards). His current role as Programme Officer at European Commission has two main aspects: on one side working on the definition and implementation of European policy in the area of digitisation of European industry; on the other side evaluating, negotiating, controlling and supporting research and innovation projects financed by the European Commission. He also contributes to the drafting of the research and innovation work programme and to the external communication of policy and research activities, and he represents the European Commission in the governing board of ECSEL, a public-private partnership between Commission, European governments and industry associations supporting the development of electronics components and systems industry in the European Union.

Sandro D’Elia has worked as a programmer for embedded systems, and on ERP and business and scientific software in many different areas from manufacturing to aerospace, e-government, automotive, industrial automation and cultural heritage. He spent a significant part of his career as IT project manager, first in the private sector and then in the IT service of the European Commission. In 2009 he moved to the position of programme officer.

Sandro’s main interests include: Information and Communication Technologies, computing architectures, methodologies, open source, European research and innovation policy, Internet, low-energy computing, autonomous cyber-physical systems, model-based design, cloud computing, project management, programme management, digital technologies for industry.