European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Andreas is the CEO and Co-Founder of KONUX, a company that combines smart sensors and analytics based on artificial intelligence (AI) with the aim of guaranteeing the punctual operation and maintenance of railway networks. While working for corporations like Siemens and BMW, Andreas came to the realisation that many industrial companies were not yet aware of the advantages accompanying the Internet of Things, nor did they know how to properly make use of their data. He managed to raise +$50 million with leading Silicon Valley investors and just a year later, KONUX won the national mobility award ‘Deutscher Mobilitätspreis’ along with the German digital award ‘The Spark’ in 2016. That same year, Andreas was the youngest CEO to be included in the entrepreneur list by the German Capital Magazine.

As the first woman as Commanding Officer in the German Navy (FGS Datteln), Helena has participated in several international missions under the United Nations and NATO with her crew. In this role, she has been responsible for all issues concerning her ship, crew and assignments, including extensive training and combat cycles. Helena is the first woman ever to take over the command of a German navy ship.

Ludewig leads the healthcare division of T-Systems International and is responsible for driving the company’s development of the healthcare market. Prior to his current role, he worked to advance the digitalisation and innovative capacity of Germany’s health sector as the head of the Department of Healthcare Digitalization at the German Ministry of Health, where he was notably responsible for the introduction of the digital vaccination card. Ludewig was also instrumental in promoting the electronic patient file and establishing the FDZ research data centre. As a member of the Berlin House of Representatives, he was the deputy chairman and health policy spokesperson the Christian Democrats Union parliamentary group. In this position, Ludewig was particularly committed to strengthening research and innovation in the healthcare sector.

Radoslaw is a neuroscientist, leading the research group “Neural Dynamics of Visual Cognition” at the Free University Berlin. His main interest is human visual cognition – that is, the way the brain represents visual objects. Radoslaw has received numerous awards and grants from private and public funders for his ground-breaking research including from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and, most recently, from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In addition to teaching and lecturing at various universities worldwide, he is also a regular on the conference trail in the US and Europe.

Souad is a German journalist of Turkish and Moroccan descent who works for prestigious international magazines, newspapers and TV channels, such as The New York Times, ZDF and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She specialises in stories relating to terrorist organisations and Islam, and she recently covered the Egyptian demonstrations at the height of the Arab Spring. She is also Co-author of two German language books that deal with the issues of political Islam and jihad, The Children of Jihad and Islam. In 2009 the independent jury of the magazine medium named her one of the Top 3 reporters in German speaking countries. Souad is also the author of the book ‘I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad’, published in 2017.

Soheil Mirpour is a Member of the Management Board of Rocket Internet, Europe’s largest incubator for technology companies. He is also a Partner at the company’s investment arm, Global Founders Capital, which is among of largest venture capital firms in Europe. Prior to his current roles, Mirpour gained experience in private equity and investment banking at two leading global investment firms, KKR and Morgan Stanley. He started his career at Rocket Internet as a co-founder and managing director of marketplaces in the Middle East. Devoted to social causes that benefit youths from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, Mirpour currently works as a mentor in the Deutschlandstiftung mentorship programme and serves on the Board of InteGREATer.

Matthias conducts research into 3D digitization at the juncture between the fields of computer graphics, computer vision, and artificial intelligence. He currently heads the Visual Computing Lab at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). His research is oriented towards the generation of 3D models of real-world environments using video and range cameras (for example with Deep Learning). One of his most well-known projects involved algorithms that make it possible to manipulate the facial expressions of any subject within a regular YouTube video – which he demonstrated on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Matthias studied computer science and his thesis on the topic of “Subdivision Surface Rendering using Hardware Tessellation” was submitted in 2013 and was awarded the highest honors. From 2013 to 2017, Professor Nießner was a visiting assistant professor at Stanford University.

Bastian is a Pulitzer Prize-winning German investigative journalist with the Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), and the reporter who received the Panama Papers ‒ over 11 million documents containing compromising financial information on several public figures ‒ from an anonymous source. Bastian recently initiated and coordinated the release of the Paradise Papers, 13 million documents related to off-shore investments.

As the Resident Representative at the political research foundation associated with the Christian Social Union (CSU), Julia works on projects related to strengthening civil society, civic involvement and the rule of law, among other topics, in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Prior to her current role, Julia was elected and served as a member of the German federal parliament at the age of 29. Her political work focused on defence and security policies as a member of the Committee on Defence, which played an important part in the adoption of the defence budget and the procurement of materiel for the armed forces. Julia started her career as a lecturer at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich before joining the office of the CSU, where she held several political positions at the local level. As a member of the CSU policy committee, she played an important role in drafting the new party manifesto.

With 20 years of leadership experience in the digital industry, Martin advises companies from start-ups to leading global brands on their growth opportunities in the digital world. Martin currently serves a Board Member of AfriKids, an NGO which supports sustainable development projects in Ghana. He is the former president and managing director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa at WeWork, in which role he led the restructuring of the company in the EMEA region and was responsible for the cross-functionality of the real estate, finance, product, operations, sales and marketing teams. Martin has also held several leadership roles at Facebook, including managing director of Central Europe, regional director of Africa, the Middle East, Israel and Turkey, as well as managing director of Northern Europe. Prior to joining Facebook, Martin was co-CEO of Skrill, one of Europe’s fastest growing fintech unicorns, and COO of Jamba, a global mobile content provider.

Dominik has held various management roles at Lanxess, a leading global specialty chemicals group, throughout his career. Prior to his current role in rubber additives, Dominik has worked in mergers and acquisitions, colorants and rubber chemicals, which included a four-year assignment in Southeast Asia. His political record includes activities at both the regional and national levels for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), as well as for the Young Union of Germany and the Economic Council of the CDU.

A German technology expert, Gundbert’s personal mission is to make technology work for the purpose of democratic defence and security institutions. He co-founded Helsing, a security and artificial intelligence company that specialises in real-time information processing software, with the aim of strengthening Europe’s liberal democracies by providing the clearest image possible of an operating environment. Assisting democratic governments in becoming technology makers not takers, Helsing has quickly become one of the fastest growing tech companies in Europe. A self-described ‘transatlanticist’, Gundbert is also a Member of Atlantik-Brücke, a non-profit association which aims to deepen transatlantic cooperation. Gundbert previously served as a commissioner at the German Federal Ministry of Defence, in which role he contributed to the design of the Cyber and Information Domain Command, a new military service related to the information domain.

Max Siedentopf is a German-Namibian multi-disciplinary conceptual artist, who works across video, photography, sculpture, creative direction and more. He founded Ordinary, a quarterly art magazine that reimages ordinary household objects, transforming them into the extraordinary. Siedentopf’s latest artworks also include ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, a dark-humoured satirical installation that reflects on society’s delusional positive outlook in the face of major crises, and ‘Toto Forever’, an installation in an undisclosed location in the Namib Desert, which earned him acclaim in Vogue Italy as a “viral artist”. He currently creatively collaborates with Gucci on campaigns, brand image and special projects, having most recently led the creative art direction for the Italian fashion house’s experimental online space Gucci Vault. Siedentopf has directed music videos, even starring in one of them, and was nominated by Campaign Magazine among the top ten directors of 2022. He is also the former creative director and youngest-ever partner of the creative agency KesselsKramer.

Jens is the Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. He was formally the Federal Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Angela Merkel. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2002, with responsibility for health policies, and a Member of the CDU/CSU Youth Group. He has gathered his experience in government during his time as the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Finance, a post he has held since July 2015. He holds a degree in Banking and Political Science from the University of Hagen, and previously worked as a banker in his hometown of Munster. Jens is a founding member of the ‘Young Member of Parliament’ cross-party group that promotes integration and equality in politics and society.

Max is a European serial entrepreneur and Chief Business Officer of Deposit Solutions. Previously Max was Partner and CEO Europe for SkyBridge Capital, the global alternative investment firm, and Director and Head of Investors at the World Economic Forum in Geneva and New York. Furthermore, he was a Co-Founder & Managing Director at Public One Strategy Consulting, and part of the initial team of the technology company Mondus Limited that originated out of Oxford University. He serves as Senior Advisor Europe to the Berggruen Institute and is a former Senior Advisor on Global Business at the Asia-Pacific Research Center of Stanford University.