After studying for a degree in power plant engineering at the Zittau University of Technology, Helge-Uve Braun began his professional career in 1988, initially as a programmer, designer and managing partner of an engineering firm, working in the fields of industrial site construction, energy plant construction and materials handling technology. From 1994 onwards, he worked as a project engineer and project manager on national and international projects (Europe, Asia) in the field of central/decentralised district heating supply and power plant technology, planning & realisation of power and heat generation and supply plants of various sizes. In 2004, he moved to SWM. Here he started as a project manager, became Managing Director of SWM Infrastruktur GmbH and has been Technical Managing Director since 2017.

Miklos Antics is Managing Director and associate partner of both GPC Instrumentation Process (GPC IP) and GEOFLUID France. He is being active during the past 30 years in project development from low to high enthalpy fields in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, England, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya (African Rift countries), El Salvador, Armenia, and Indonesia. Developed sustainable reservoir concepts for many geothermal fields by coordinating geoscientific, reservoir engineering and drilling/completion of geothermal projects. Developed innovative well architectures to maximise heat extraction in a sustainable view. He lectured on Geothermal Reservoir Simulation and Sustainable development of geothermal resources at CAS-DGEOSYS (University of Neuchâtel), several ISS (International Summer School) and seminars. Authored and co-authored over 60 technical papers (English and Romanian) and four textbooks. He holds MSc and PhD in Petroleum Engineering from the Ploiesti (Romania) School of Petrol. He also holds a Diploma in Geothermal Energy Technology from Geothermal Institute in New Zealand. He is President of the European Geothermal Council (EGEC) since 2018. Member of IGA, EGEC, EAGE, GRC, SPE.

Mechthild Wörsdörfer is Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy (DG Energy), where she is in charge of the Coordination of the Just and Green Energy Transition since October 2021. She previously was a director responsible for sustainability, technology and outlooks at the International Energy Agency, from 2018 until September 2021. Before that, she held two director positions at DG Energy, in charge of renewables, research and innovation, energy efficiency (from 2017 to 2018) and for energy policy, international relations, legal aspects and economic analysis (from 2014 to 2017) . Previously, Mrs Wörsdörfer was head of policy unit on the 2030 Energy and Climate Framework. Before that, she worked at DG Enterprise & Industry, now called DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). From 1999 to 2004, she served in the Cabinet of Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise Policy and Information Society. Mrs Wörsdörfer studied Economics at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Montpellier and completed her studies with a MA in European Economics at the Free University of Brussels.Mechthild Wörsdörfer is Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy (DG Energy), where she is in charge of the Coordination of the Just and Green Energy Transition since October 2021. She previously was a director responsible for sustainability, technology and outlooks at the International Energy Agency, from 2018 until September 2021. Before that, she held two director positions at DG Energy, in charge of renewables, research and innovation, energy efficiency (from 2017 to 2018) and for energy policy, international relations, legal aspects and economic analysis (from 2014 to 2017) . Previously, Mrs Wörsdörfer was head of policy unit on the 2030 Energy and Climate Framework. Before that, she worked at DG Enterprise & Industry, now called DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). From 1999 to 2004, she served in the Cabinet of Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise Policy and Information Society. Mrs Wörsdörfer studied Economics at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Montpellier and completed her studies with a MA in European Economics at the Free University of Brussels.

Bernhard Herrmann is a member of the 20th German Bundestag. He works in the committees for climate protection and energy as well as urban development, housing and municipalities on finding political answers to energy policy issues. He is particularly involved in the heat transition and citizens’ energy. As a graduate engineer in hydraulic engineering, he previously worked as a project and construction manager in the field of hydraulic engineering and environmental planning.

Christian Maaß (born 1972) studied law in Hamburg and Geneva (1992-1998). He then worked as a research assistant at the Research Centre for Environmental Law at the University of Hamburg and completed his legal traineeship there. From 2001 to 2008, he was a member of the Hamburg Parliament and deputy leader of the parliamentary group (B’90/Grüne), before he was appointed State Councillor of the Hamburg Ministry for Urban Development and the Environment (2008-2010). In this function, he founded the energy supplier Hamburg Energie and chaired the supervisory boards of various public companies. In 2012, he and partners founded the research and consulting company Hamburg Institut, which he headed as one of the managing directors until 2022. Since 10 January 2022, Christian Maaß has headed Department II at the BMWK.

Ajit Menon is Vice President of Geothermal for Baker Hughes. He has over 25 years of experience in Baker Hughes in which he has held senior management positions in operational, sales, marketing, technical, and business management roles in multiple locations globally. In his current role, he leads the geothermal segment for Baker Hughes encompassing both sub surface and surface solutions. Ajit has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Bath, United Kingdom

Dr. Silke Karcher studied Technical Environmental Protection at the TU Berlin and went on to obtain a doctorate in engineering. She worked at the Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry for the Environment in various functions, most recently as Head of Division “EU Climate and Energy Policy, European Climate Initiative (EUKI), International Carbon Market”.
Since December 2021, Dr Karcher has been State Secretary for Environment and Climate Protection in the Senate Department for the Environment, Mobility, Consumer- and Climate Protection in Berlin.

John Redfern is an expert investor, advisor and serial entrepreneur in the data analytics, oil service and energy tech verticals. John spent his career in executive roles at multiple international oil co’s and oil service co’s including as a Director at Hess in London, President of Accumap in Calgary and President of IHS Energy in Denver. Prior to Eavor, John spent 13 years in China co-founding a series of start-ups, the most recent of which is LocalGravity, the leading retail data analytics platform in China. As a director, executive and advisor over the years, John has specialized in commercial strategy, negotiations, alliancing, M&A, and private equity. John holds a degree in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Law degrees from McGill University in Montreal, and an MBA degree from INSEAD in France.

Mr. Oliver Racle has nearly 20 years of experience in the energy sector of which nearly 10 have been dedicated to the development of district energy infrastructures. He is a strong advocate of the long-term benefits and advantages of local District Energy Systems which are considered essential infrastructures of cities and territories since they address the crucial need for more renewables, such as geothermal, and circular economy. He is also board member of IDEA (US DHC association) and Euro Heat and Power (EU DHC association) dedicated to the promotion of heating and cooling networks.

Mr Felix Koselleck is the Managing Director of Infrastructure Project Development, Energy Projects at STRABAG.

Mr Koselleck, for more than 25 years, has been responsible for several closed projects based on project finance, such as: a 100 Mil. € sewage treatment project in Germany; several multimillion motorway projects in Europe; a 672 MW hydro project in Turkey; the sale of a 27 floor business building in Beijing; the acquisition and development of an offshore wind project pipeline (7 GW); the sale of several permitted offshore wind projects in Germany; as wells as, several ongoing geothermal energy projects. One of the ongoing projects Mr Koselleck is involved in, is the development of a 400 MW pump storage power plant in Germany.

Piotr Dziadzio, PhD, is Poland’s Chief National Geologist, Government Plenipotentiary for the State Raw Material Policy and Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment. He received his PhD in earth science in the field of geology from the Polish Geological Institute and has had a long professional career in geology in both private and public sectors. Dr Dziadzio is a longstanding member of the Scientific Association of the Oil and Gas Industry Engineers and Technicians and is the deputy chairman and former chairman of the Polish National Committee of the World Petroleum Council.

Prof. Dr. Ingo Sass studied geosciences in Hamburg and Karlsruhe and completed his PhD at the former Technical University of Karlsruhe. He has been a professor at TU Darmstadt, where he represents the field of “Applied Geothermal Energy”, and since 2021 he also is the head of the “Geoenergy” section at the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (GFZ). He is a certified expert for geothermal energy, deep drilling technology and well construction and consulting engineer for geothermal energy and geotechnics. Ingo Sass is the scientific director of the GeoLaB (Geothermal Laboratory in the Mine), a planned international and interdisciplinary research platform in fractured crystalline bedrock. As co-author of the “Roadmap Geothermal Energy for Germany”, published by the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and the Helmholtz Association, he is convinced that decarbonisation in the heating sector in Germany can only succeed with geothermal energy.

Paolo Bertuzzi holds a Ph.D. from Università Cattolica di Milano and a degree in Business Administration from the Università di Brescia. Professor of Risk Management at Economia e Commercio, Università di Brescia, from 2001 to 2006. Turboden quotaholder since 1999 and General Manager in charge of the financial and commercial activities coordination from 2009 up to January 2014. Since February 2014 he is CEO & Managing Director of Turboden.

Prof. Rolf Bracke has been director of the Fraunhofer IEG together with Prof. Mario Ragwitz since December 2019. Before that, as founding director and chairman of the board, he built up the International Geothermal Center Bochum (GZB) as a NRW joint research facility of science and industry. The GZB was transferred to the IEG as part of the Bochum institute on January 1st, 2020. Within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Rolf Bracke coordinates research on the heat dimension for the institutes of the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance and the Cluster of Excellence Integrated Energy Systems.
As a full professor at the Ruhr University Bochum, he holds the chair for geothermal energy systems in the mechanical engineering faculty. There, the geologist, who received his doctorate and diploma from RWTH Aachen University, sees himself as a bridge builder between the natural sciences and engineering. From 2002 to 2020 he held the professorship for geothermal energy and environmental technology in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the Bochum University of Applied Sciences and between 2006 and 2009 he held the position of Vice President for Research.
Rolf Bracke is intensively involved in the international scientific community. Between 2013 and 2020 he was Director of the International Geothermal Association (IGA) and is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Energy Research Alliance (Geothermal Programme). He has led a large number of research projects on the energy transition in Europe and around the world and advises international institutions such as the World Bank, the United Nations, the Central American Integration System (SICA) and European institutions on energy issues. His central research interests lie in the transformation of mining-related technologies in the development of climate-neutral energy systems.

Mr Benjamin Richter is a partner at Rödl & Partner, an international auditing and consulting firm with 5,260 employees in 107 offices in 50 countries. He is a business economist and responsible for the topic of heat transition at Rödl & Partner. His work focuses on economic feasibility studies, project management and the management of interdisciplinary project teams. Mr Richter is a lecturer and regularly publishes specialist articles and speaks at international congresses. As an industry expert for deep geothermal energy generation, he also deals in particular with topics such as financing, funding, transactions, risk management and the optimisation of deep geothermal energy projects.

Active in drilling technology and geothermal energy since 1997, Prof. Dr. Simone Walker-Hertkorn accompanied one of the first professorships in Germany for geothermal energy systems from 2008 to 2017, which was based at the Technical University of Deggendorf at the TUM Campus Straubing. Before that, she was active on the board of the German Heat Pump Association (Bundesverband Wärmepumpe) for 5 years and since 2004 she has been involved in ensuring quality standards in the near-surface geothermal sector through various guideline sheets in the VDI 4640 guideline committee. In addition to numerous publications and lectures, she has also supervised innovative and forward-looking research projects. In 2007, for example, the development of a cold local heating network to supply neighbourhoods with heating and cooling was discussed in a Pro Inno II cooperation project and has already been successfully implemented in small project sizes.

After completing her studies as an industrial engineer, Christine Cröniger worked on the medium- and long-term energy optimisation of Stadtwerke München’s generation park. Since mid-2018, she has been working on the site development of renewable energies. Her tasks focus on business and project development in the field of deep geothermal energy.

Marcus Oesterberg has worked in the oil and gas industry for 32 years and holds over 16 patents. In 1995 Marcus joined Baker Hughes in Celle, Germany, and relocated to the US in 1997. During his career with Baker Hughes, he worked in various roles in Technical Services, Deepwater Project Management, Repair & Maintenance, Global Marketing, Off- and Onshore Operations, and as the Global Product Management Executive for Directional Drilling. Prior to joining Ignis Energy he was the President of Evolution Engineering, a leading technology provider for downhole MWD tools. Marcus holds an M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Clausthal, Germany.