Speakers

Akiyuki Kake

Research & Development Expert • Wacom

After working in research and development for an electronics manufacturer and in the e-book business, Akiyuki Kake joined Wacom in 2015. His main responsibilities include collaboration with universities and third parties and new business development.

Alessio Tommasetti

Head Architect & Designer, Professor at IED University & Rufa University in Rome, Italy • D'Arc.Studio Associates Architects, Rome/ Milan Italy

Alessio graduated in Architecture in 2003 and has a PhD in the Sciences of Representation. He teaches Fashion and Product Design at IED Rome and Digital Painting at RUFA. Alessio is Founder, Partner, and Head Architect at Studio D'Arc Architects Associates, a design studio that deals with all aspects of sustainability from the concept to the final production. He specializes in Robotics and Bionics, 3D Printing, CGI, Animation, Pre-Production and Visualizing, Video, and Compositing.

Dr. Alexander Vyhnal

Director Research & Development • STAEDTLER

Based on Alexander Vyhnals scientific chemical education, he has been fascinated since decades in chances and possibilities of progressing material, process and information technologies. Especially the synergistic combination of different technologies to innovate products and business models is part of his DNA.

Andrea Chiampo

Digital Artist / Concept Designer

Andrea Chiampo is an Italian Artist and established Concept Designer for the Entertainment Industry (clients: Disney, Netflix and many more). Although his work is mainly known for his distinct photo-realistic creature design, he has lately aroused curiosity among the Digital Art community revealing a new, unique and evocative style. What at first sight might be misunderstood as an antique lithography is instead the result of digital art. He recently became independent artist thanks to the NFTs.

Andrée Kratzenberg

EMEA Sales Leader • Wacom

Andrée is the Wacom EMEA sales leader and has been with the company since 2014, after several years of managing sales and key account teams in the consumer electronics field. Apart from his dedication to pushing digital pen usage in creative and vertical markets with a focus on B2B market development, he is passionate about digital transformation in education and how digital handwriting technology can drive and support it.

Andrew Caffrey

CEO Canopy Education CIC and Google Certified innovator and Trainer • Canopy Education CIC

Andrew Caffrey, CEO of Canopy, a team of educational technologists who use digital technology to enhance teaching and learning. He is also the Global Program Lead for the Google for Education Certified Innovator Program, a global community of over 2000 passionate teachers who use technology to solve big challenges and advocate for impactful use of technology in education. Part of the EdTech 50 in 2020, 2016 winner of Inspirational Educator Award from the Worshipful Company of Educators.

Avinav Khanal

Product Activist • Wacom

As a true user advocate, Avinav establishes that users are at the center of every product Wacom designs. He is particularly engaged in understanding the challenges faced by modern digital artists and is very passionate about creating solutions that serve their needs.

Dr. Bahne Sievers

Counsel • Fieldfisher

Dr. Bahne Sievers is a German-qualified lawyer working in Fieldfisher's Hamburg office. He specializes in copyright, media, and commercial law. He advises clients from the media and the digital industry. He studied Law and Musicology at the University of Hamburg and also holds a Master’s Degree (LL.M.) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. For his thesis on copyright law, he received a Doctoral Degree (Dr. jur.) from the University of Hamburg.

Emmanuel Klissarov

Independent Designer

With more than 14 years of experience in automotive exterior design for various brands, Emmanuel Klissarov, a Bulgarian/Canadian designer based on the French Riviera, now works independently offering design services. For his clients, Emmanuel provides various mobility solutions, products, entertainment concept designs, and education for the next generation of designers.

Erna Mueller

Educational Advisor • STAEDTLER

Erna is convinced that companies in the field of education have a responsibility to provide children and educators with the right tools to help them develop 21st century skills. As an educational advisor to STAEDTLER, Erna is looking for new trends within the education sector that focus on hands-on activities and emphasize the dictum that “hand speaks to brain and brain speaks to hand."

Eva Toorenent

Artist

Eva Toorenent is a freelance Illustrator/artist and writer who lives and works in Zandvoort in the Netherlands. In 2019, she received her Bachelor's in Illustration. After completing her degree, Eva focused on her greatest passion: creating monsters. In 2021 she published her first book The Wonderful World of Eva at Clavis Publishing. In the book, she documents the strange creatures she encountered in her childhood. She now works as a creature designer and sells her original art worldwide.

Faik Karaoglu

Executive Vice President Branded Business Group • Wacom

Faik is passionate about technology and innovation. As Executive Vice President of Wacom, he is the driving force in creating value for customers in the Creative and Education markets. Through partnerships with leading brands and close collaboration with startups and communities, Faik develops new value propositions to maintain Wacom’s position as the preferred solution for many use cases and applications.

Dr. Felix Obschonka

Director New Technologies • Montblanc

Dr. Felix Frank Obschonka joined Montblanc in 2014 and since 2019 serves as the Director New Technologies. In his role he is responsible for connecting the traditional world of Montblanc with digital technologies to embrace new use cases for the brand, with products such as the writing tablet Augmented Paper, the Summit smartwatch and MB-01 over-ear headphones. Before joining Montblanc, Felix worked for Philips Lighting and afterwards served as the CEO & founder of a connected lighting start-up.

Friederike Fabritius

Neuroscientist, Author, Keynote Speaker

Friederike Fabritius, MS, is a neuroscientist and trailblazer in the field of neuroleadership. Her brain-based leadership programs have transformed how Fortune 500 executives think, innovate, and navigate change. She is a thought leader and keynote speaker, known for engaging global audiences at organizations like Google, Ernst & Young (EY), Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Adecco, Accenture, Deloitte, BMW, Bayer, SAP, Harvard Business Review, trivago, and Audi. An alumna of McKinsey & Company and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, she works for the prestigious German Academy of Science and Engineering. Fabritius is the award-winning, bestselling author of the book The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better, Happier. She is fluent in six languages and lives with her husband and five children in Heidelberg, Germany.

Güncem Campagna

Managing Director • Tech and Teach gGmbH

Güncem Campagna has a degree in Economics and worked in international marketing for corporations for many years. In 2016, she launched an educational initiative to increase diversity in the tech scene. Tech and Teach emerged from this initiative, offering target group-oriented programs for digital skills and IT training with its Coding School and Coding for Tomorrow initiatives.

Gustavo Ebermann

New Products Strategist • Texthelp

Product Strategy Manager at the Texthelp Group, the world's largest specialist accessibility company, Gustavo is passionate about making a positive impact in all he does. He spends his time listening to and understanding global educators' needs to help build products, experiences and resources that drive meaningful, relevant change. Gustavo is a Google Certified Educator, holds an Electronics Engineering degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and is bilingual in Spanish and English.

Heidi Wang

Senior Vice President Ink Division • Wacom

Heidi Wang is passionate about ink and innovation. For her, ink is a reflection and response of our soul and mind. As Head of the Ink Division, she leads ink technology and services at Wacom. Partnerships are her focus – under the motto “value is created by connections.” For Wang, the purpose of technology is to create meaningful experiences. She has also been a key driver of the Digital Stationery Consortium since its founding.

Dr. Heiko Maus

Chief Engineer • German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)

Heiko Maus is Team Leader Knowledge Work & Deputy Head of the Smart Data & Knowledge Services Department at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Heiko focuses on transferring innovative research into industry applications and deriving real-world challenges for further research. With CoMem, the DFKI transfers a corporate memory infrastructure based on knowledge graphs into industrial practice. Inspired by CoMem, the DFKI collaborated with Wacom on Semantic Ink.

Dr. Ignacio Alamillo-Domingo

Managing Partner • Astrea

Ignacio Alamillo-Domingo is a Doctor in Law (UMU), with a PhD thesis on eIDAS Regulation. He holds a Degree in Law (UNED), a Diploma of Advanced Studies (UAB), and a Master’s Degree in Introduction to Administrative Law Research (UAB). He is a Certified Data Protection Solutions Engineer, CDPSE, a Certified Information Systems Auditor, CISA, and a Certified Information Security Manager, CISM (ISACA); and is certified in COBIT5 Foundations (APMG) and ITIL V3 Foundations (EXIN). Currently, Ignacio is a practicing lawyer, managing partner at Astrea, and advisor at Logalty. He also collaborates with iDerTec Research group (University of Murcia) and serves as Chief Trust Officer at Alastria Blockchain Ecosystem. He has authored/co-authored more than 100 publications and has delivered more than 400 conferences and courses related to electronic identity, trust services, and their application in electronic processes.

Jan Wischermann

Retouch Artist • Jan Wischermann Imaging

Jan is a professional beauty/hair, fashion and commercial retouch artist. He is working for well-known international advertising agencies, photographers and magazines. He shares his knowledge with the creative family as retouching educator, podcast host, keynote speaker for Wacom and global Capture One Ambassador. Jan is passionate to connect to likeminded creatives to provide expertise and create value for the creative family. By today, Jan is creating for over 20 years in the creative industry. It’s his mission to craft better images to give you peace of mind.

Joakim Riedinger

Lead Animator • Pixomondo

Joakim Riedinger is a French animator by day and a passionate illustrator by night. He was Lead Animator on the HBO show House of the Dragons, and has notably worked on animated feature films, including The Minions, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, and Mitchells VS the Machines. He was nominated for the 2020 Annie Awards by Asifa Hollywood for his work on Spiderman: Far from Home. His love for illustration and drawing fuels his dynamic animation style.

Jörg Roskowetz

Head of Blockchain Technology BU - Director Product Management Blockchain Technology • AMD Radeon Technologies Group

At AMD, Jörg is responsible for driving in near term and future business opportunities across their high-performance and adaptive computing portfolio. As a recognized industry expert and long-standing AMDer, he leads the company's blockchain effort by working with key strategic partners and ISV's vendors to enable new workloads and customized graphic features. Jörg is co-chairman of the Bitkom’s Technical Committee for Product-Neutral Tenders and holds a degree in Computer Science.

Joshua Maddocks

UK Manager • Kaligo

Joshua Maddocks is Kaligo's UK Manager and focuses on deploying Kaligo across the region to individual schools, school groups and councils. Kaligo is the first AI powered handwriting and spelling app designed to teach students how to write and spell using a stylus and tablet. Following 6 years of research, curriculum aligned exercises have been co-created with teachers, occupational therapists and neuroscientists. A self-paced approach enables children to progress at their own speed according to their own ability, whilst AI Machine learning provides real-time corrective feedback and stores data for future analysis.

Joss Giffard-Burley

Director Ink Ecosystem Architecture • Wacom

As Wacom’s Ink Ecosystem Architect, Joss is shaping the future of Wacom’s software technology to create a technology ecosystem around digital ink. Joss passionately believes that by applying decentralized technologies such as SSI, we can build a fairer digital world that empowers the individual to control their own data & digital persona.

Karl Siegel

Regional Sales Director • Lamy

Karl Siegel has a degree in Business Administration. He lived and worked in Asia for several years before joining LAMY in 2011. As Regional Sales Director, Karl has visited many countries across the globe, venturing into a wide range of exciting cultures. What unites all nations and all cultures is the fact that the ancient cultural technique of handwriting continues to play a crucial role in supporting thinking processes – even in an ever more digitalized world. For Karl Siegel, a seamless and natural transition between analogue and digital handwriting is one of the key elements to support efficient processes in the fields of education, work, play and creativity.

Ken Kasischke

Director Global Marketing Strategy • Wacom

Ken Kasischke is Global Marketing Director for Wacom's Business Solution Business Unit. He strongly believes that becoming more digital does not necessarily mean being less human, and that there is huge value in solutions that deliver both a technical and a human advantage.

Lars Lenz

Working Student Signature Solutions • Wacom

Lars Lenz studies Business Information Systems at the University of Duisburg-Essen and works with Wacom on decentralized technologies in the space of signature solutions since mid 2021. Growing up in Düsseldorf he has been loyal to his hometown ever since, enjoying the spirit of a small town with an international character. In the coming months he is looking forward to the next evolutionary stages of the Secure Signing Project, further specializing his skills in Web3.0 technologies.

Laura Bender

Manager Digital Education in School • Teach First Deutschland

With a background in social media and project management, Laura Bender has always been drawn to media competence research. As the daughter of a primary school teacher, she was always aware of educational issues. While reflecting on digital solutions for everyday school life during the pandemic, the role of Manager for Digital Education appeared at the perfect time. At Teach First Germany, she critically advances the subject of digital transformation in education with her heart and mind.

Leonardo Mendolicchio

Enterprise Sales Manager Europe • Wacom Europe

Leo is a creative thinker and digital design expert. He’s driving the enterprise Creative sales for Wacom in Europe, running Partnerships and build network in the fascinating world of the digital design.

Maddie Spencer

Head of Assets and Visual Development

Creature and character designer as well as ZBrush educator, Maddie has over 15 years experience as an artist in the film industry. Her background is makeup effects and traditional media painting and sculpting. Maddie made the jump to ZBrush in 2004 and now she creates characters in ZBrush, Photoshop, and 3D printing (as well as a variety of other software). Maddie teaches all over the world, from South America to Australia, to London to France.

Marco Achenbach

Head of Brand and Product Strategy • Lamy

After finishing his degree in business administration, Marco worked in product management as well as consumer marketing before joining Lamy in 2006 with a leading role in the Lamy product management. After that, he worked in product development. Today, he is the Head of Brand and Product Strategy at Lamy.

Dr. Markus Weber

Principal Ink Technologist • Wacom

Markus Weber is the Principal Ink Technologist at Wacom Europe. He is leading the development of Wacom’s ink technology based on the Wacom Ink Layer Language (WILL™) and its universal ink model (https://developer.wacom.com/). Before joining Wacom, he finished his PhD in gesture interaction (via different modes) at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Max Maendler

Founder • eduki

Co-initiator of Germany’s biggest education hackathon #wirfürschule, Max Maendler is an entrepreneur, business angel, and founder of eduki.com. eduki is the leading German online marketplace for teachers to share their teaching resources, empowering each other to deliver the best possible lessons. Max writes and lectures on entrepreneurship, business start-ups, and the school of tomorrow.

Nicolas Gaudioso

Automotive Designer

Nico Gaudioso is an Exterior Automotive Designer from Misiones, Argentina, who has worked in multiple studios worldwide as a designer and visual artist. Nico is passionate about automotive history, motorsport, sci-fi, and design. Nowadays, he pushes his creative workflow through VR, 3D modelling, and illustration.

Dr. Nicolas Großmann

Senior Researcher • German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)

Dr. Nicolas Großmann is a Senior Researcher at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Kaiserslautern. He is the subject leader for Immersive Quantified Learning, which deals with the detection of cognitive states with the help of sensors and artificial intelligence. Together with the University of Kaiserslautern, DFKI operates the iQL - Immersive Quantified Learning Lab to apply these techniques directly in educational research.

Nikolaos Kalantzis

• Chartoularios Institute

Nikolaos (Niko) Kalantzis has a BSc in Physics, a PgD in Forensic Science, and an MSc in Questioned Documents. He holds a diploma in Questioned Documents (FSSocDip) from the Chartered Society of Forensic Science of which he is a Professional Member. He works both for the courts of Athens and Piraeus and handles private cases as an examiner. He is manager of the Chartoularios Institute, an associate member of ENFHEX, President of the scientific committee of the Hellenic Association of Forensic Sciences (HAFS), a member of the Arab Society of Forensic Science and Forensic Medicine, and a member of the Steering Committee of ENFHEX.

Oluwaseyi Sosanya

CEO • Gravity Sketch

Oluwaseyi Sosanya is a designer and CEO of Gravity Sketch, a London-based startup that is building a 3D design and collaboration platform. Over his career as a design engineer, he has focused on challenging today's traditional digital tools to develop more user-friendly, sustainable designs. As CEO of Gravity Sketch, he has pursued the goal of making emerging technologies more accessible to the broader creative community by building tools that lower barriers to human-centric user experiences.

Patrick Mc Grath

Head of Education Strategy • Texthelp

Educator, international speaker, blogger, panellist, podcaster and Head of Education Strategy at the Texthelp Group.

Patrick is passionate about ensuring that technology has a positive, meaningful and sustainable impact on teaching & learning through a focus on inclusion, accessibility and universal design.

A Google Certified Educator and Apple Education Mentor, Patrick has received the UK Digital Leader 100 award and an Honorary Fellowship of the University of Ulster (School of Education).

Peter Sommer

Managing Director • Wacom Europe GmbH

Peter is the head of Wacom´s Business Solution Team and Managing Director of Wacom Europe
He passionate about exploring and developing new solutions based on Ink technology with Wacom´s strong community of partners.
For him, connecting people, listening to and understanding different users is the source for innovation and new value propositions .
“More human, more digital” is the guiding concept of Peter and his team.

Rafik Hassan El Hariri

Illustrator, Animator, and Mental Health Advocate

Rafik El Hariri is an illustrator, animator, and mental health advocate. He began his career in the field of graphic design, before branching out to pursue his love for illustrations and image creation as well. He now creates visual imagery for a variety of commercial and commissioned projects.

Sammy White

Teaching and Learning Specialist • Texthelp

Sammy is an experienced maths teacher across secondary, alternative provisions and adult education. Sammy was named in the EdTech 50 in 2021 and holds an ACMALT from the Association of Learning Technology. Sammy works for Texthelp and is passionate about the power of technology in helping students realise their potential. Sammy was the first female Google for Education Certified Coach in Europe. She is also a Google innovator and trainer.

Sarah van den Belt

Education Senior Sales Manager - Europe • Wacom

Sarah has been with Wacom for over 12 years and is a true believer in the benefit Wacom has for Education. Having young children herself she has seen how bringing the digital pen into the hands of students and teachers can enhance digital learning using natural handwriting skills. Sarah is responsible for the Education business across Europe and is passionate about showing schools and institutions solutions that make a difference in the classroom, at home or in any learning environment.

Seri Kim

Account Manager • Wacom

Several working years as Sales in electronic components field, and Seri has been working at Wacom since 2021. Her main responsibilities are managing the demands and new business of digital stationary companies.

Stefan Kirmse

SVP Corporate Brand and Communications • Wacom

Stefan is leading the brand development and corporate engagement with his teams in Tokyo, Portland and Düsseldorf. He initiated the Brand Experience Centers in Portland and Düsseldorf, which are now essential stages for local Connected Ink partnerships. With his is global team he has been a driving force for Connected Ink since its start. For him Connected Ink brings Wacom´s DNA and purpose to life, connecting Wacom teams across the globe with Wacom stakeholders, customers and partners, sharing life-long questions of human beings and experiencing the power of creativity to find answers to these question or at least valuable inspirations.

Dr. Thomas Forss

CEO • StageZero Technologies

Thomas Forss has more than ten years of experience in the AI field, and holds a doctorate in NLP. During his career, he has worked on products for understanding text, handwriting, and speech. In 2016, Thomas realized his passion for AI by co-founding StageZero Technologies in Helsinki, Finland. StageZero are the market leading AI data specialists for speech and NLP data collection, annotation, and validation.

Tracy Kistner

CEO • wirfürschule gUG

Tracy Kistner, born in Cologne, is a mother of four children and for this reason has been involved in education for a long time. Since spring 2022 she has been the managing director of #wirfürschule gUG, a Germany-wide movement that is committed to making the schools of tomorrow a reality today. Tracy is a lecturer in design thinking and entrepreneurship. She has a degree in business administration and completed a CEMS Master of International Management.

Düsseldorf Speakers