Innovative batteries & fuel cells

Humboldt-University Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB)

Philipp Adelhelm is professor for physical chemistry and electrochemistry at Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany, and has been working on inorganic electrode materials for Sodium-ion batteries since 2010. He is co-editor of the book “Sodium-Ion Batteries: Materials, Characterization, and Technology” (Wiley-VCH, 2022, Titirici/Adelhelm/Hu) and leads a joint research group on operando battery analysis between Humboldt-University Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB).

Frauenhofer UMSICHT

Prof. Dr. Ulf-Peter Apfel is a professor of Activation of Small Molecules/Technical Electrochemistry at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) and also heads the Department of Electrosynthesis at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. He studied chemistry at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, where he also earned his doctorate. This was followed by a postdoctoral stay at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA. His scientific career has been supported through prestigious funding programs such as the Liebig Fellowship and the Emmy Noether Program.

Since 2013, Prof. Apfel has pursued an independent academic career, focusing on the activation of small molecules, electrocatalysis, and CO₂ reduction. At the core of his research is the development of sustainable, non-precious-metal-based electrocatalysts and their integration into application-oriented systems, such as zero-gap electrolyzers. His work has received numerous awards, including the Teaching Award from the Chemical Industry Fund and the ADUC Habilitation Award.

Beyond his research, Prof. Apfel is actively involved in shaping the scientific landscape. Since 2024, he has served as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at RUB, coordinator of the Mat4Hy cooperation platform, and spokesperson for the "Hydrogen Production" division within the Fraunhofer Hydrogen Network. Additionally, he contributes his expertise to various scientific advisory boards and committees.

Boeing Deutschland GmbH

Jens was born in 1968 born in Bad Kissingen, Germany and studied from 1990 to 1995 aerospace engineering at TU Munich, finishing with diploma degree followed by two jobs for two different automotive engineering companies in Munich, Germany. From 1998 to 2001 Jens worked for Europcoper, Donauwoerth, Germany in helicopter and aircraft doors development. He was asked to join Airbus, Hamburg, Germany and help various jobs in fuselage and fin stress department with responsibility for 110 employed over 3 nations. Finally he organized and held the worldwide composite training inside the Airbus Company. Beginning 2008 he was asked to join Toyota F1 team in Cologne, Germany as stress engineer for monocoque and suspension parts until Toyota stepped out of Formula 1 by the end of 2009. His time on a temporary 3 years contract at the DLR he spend with various aircraft wing design projects and started his PhD thesis developing the Cuntze-Bold failure and material model for composites. After joining Johnson Controls as Manager New Technologies Composites till the worldwide closure of the Department of Technology & Advanced Development he finally started at Boeing BR&T in the new office in Munich in February 2016. Dr.-Ing. in 2019. Since 2023 his non-linear material model combined with Cuntze modal based failure criteria is embedded in core MSC Nastran as MATCB.

Ionysis GmbH
Co-founder and technical managing director of Ionysis GmbH

Dr. Matthias Breitwieser is a scientist and entrepreneur in the field of electrochemical energy systems with a focus on sustainable hydrogen technologies. As co-founder and technical managing director of ionysis GmbH in Freiburg, he develops and scales up innovative membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for fuel cells and electrolyzers with reduced perfluorination.

After studying microsystems engineering at the University of Freiburg, Dr. Breitwieser headed the “Electrochemical Energy Systems” research group at the University of Freiburg and Hahn-Schickard. There he worked intensively on the optimization of MEAs for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and developed novel materials and manufacturing processes. Since 2022, he has been CTO at ionysis, where he is driving sustainable core components for the hydrogen economy.

His scientific work is documented by numerous publications. With over 50 publications and over 2000 citations, he has contributed to the technical advancement of fuel and electrolysis cells and redox flow batteries. His current research interests include the synthesis of Pt/C catalysts by atomic layer deposition and innovative approaches to improve membrane electrode assemblies.

Litona GmbH
Founder of Litona GmbH

Sebastian Büchele is the founder of Litona GmbH, a company based in Ulm specializing in the development and production of energy storage materials for sodium-ion batteries. After graduating from the University of Stuttgart, he conducted research at Dalhousie University in the lab of Prof. Jeff Dahn and Prof. Michael Metzger, collaborating with Tesla on battery cells. He then continued his research on sodium-ion battery materials at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in cooperation with the POLiS (Post Lithium Storage) excellence cluster, leading to the founding of Litona GmbH.

STOFF2

Dr. Christian Friebe studied mechanical engineering and business administration in Germany, India and France. In his doctorate, he analyzed the political framework conditions for the market ramp-up of renewable energies. For more than 10 years, he has been working in the traditional energy industry on the energy transition in the electricity and gas infrastructure. He has been responsible for public affairs and project management at STOFF2 for two years.

Hereaus Precious Metals GmbH & Co. KG
Head of Innovation in the Business Line Hydrogen Systems

Dr. Christian Gebauer holds the position of the Head of Innovation in the Business Line Hydrogen Systems at Heraeus Precious Metals GmbH & Co. KG. Here, he’s since 2018 in the technical lead for the development of catalysts for electrolysis and fuel cells.

He started his professional career at Heraeus in November 2016 as a project manager for PEM electrolysis and held afterwards different positions in the respective and adjacent fields.

Christian Gebauer graduated his studies with a PhD in Chemistry at an institute for physical chemistry at Ulm University (Germany) in 2016, where he focused on surface analytics and catalysis as well as applied electrochemistry in the field of fuel cells.

EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG

Magdalena Graczyk-Zajac works on optimization and efficient operation of stationary storage installations including testing and evaluation of innovative storage solutions at EnBW AG in Karlsruhe, Germany. Sodium-based stationary storage is in a focus of her research and professional interest. She is also involved in the activities of EnBW related to the extraction of lithium from geothermal sources. Since September 2023 she has been holding a visiting Professorship in Materials and Resources Division, Material Science Department of TU Darmstadt.

Magdalena studied Chemistry at Technical University of Gdansk in Poland and received her PhD in Physical Chemistry on electroactivity of organometallics-modified conducting polymers at Burgundy University, Dijon, France in 2007. Then she moved to CEA Liten Grenoble, France to work as a research engineer on novel electrodes and electrolytes for Li-ion batteries. Later, she moved back to academia and continued her research on polymer-derived ceramics for energy-related applications as a postdoc and later Junior Group Leader in Material Science Department of TU Darmstadt, Germany. In May 2020 she joint R&D division of EnBW.

Cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG
Hydrogen and fuel cell technology expert

Florian Henkel is hydrogen and fuel cell technology expert at cellcentric, and lead of global External Affairs and Government Relations since 2023. Florian joined cellcentric in the year 2012. Before moving to External Affairs, he worked in Research & Development for more than 10 years in different functional and project management positions, and at crossfunctional level as module team lead. For more than five years, he was the technical key responsible for the fuel cell stack and the stack assembly module (SAM). Florian holds a PhD degree in experimental physics (quantum optics and quantum communication).

Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME)
Technical Head Hydrogen Business and Value Chain

Stephan is currently acting as Technical Head Hydrogen Business and Value Chain of Toyota Motor Europe’s (TME) Fuel Cell Business Group responsible for hydrogen strategy and external hydrogen relations.

He is on the Management Board of the Hydrogen Council and also treasurer and co-chair of the industrial evolutions programme of the Council since many years.

In addition. Stephan is chair of the Mobility Working group of  Hydrogen Europe.

Stephan is also alternate Liaison Delegate to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Previously he held various positions in TME Environmental Affairs, Trend Research and Business Strategy. Stephan also worked in Toyota’s Global Headquarter in Japan looking after the global environmental strategy.

Stephan studied business administration and economics and he holds a PhD in economics. Stephan worked for seven years in the automotive industry in Germany and China before joining TME in 2005.

Ecoclean GmbH
Board of Management and Director Sales & Service

Manfred Hermanns began his professional career in 1987 after studying mechanical engineering at Aachen University of Applied Sciences in the plant project planning department of Ecoclean GmbH.

In 1990, he started as a key account manager in sales for customers in the automotive industry. In 1998, he took over the position of sales manager for the special systems division and then, in 2004, overall sales in Monschau.

Since 2010, he has also had overall responsibility for product management and after-sales service.

Due to the “combustion engine phase-out” in 2018/2019, the role of Business Development Manager was added in order to initiate the company's realignment.

Manfred Hermanns has more than 35 years of sales experience in the automotive industry. Ecoclean is now also successful in the medical technology, watchmaking and semiconductor industries.

Another focus since 2020 has been the topic of electrolysis and hydrogen, which Mr. Hermanns has been instrumental in driving forward.

KLiB (Kompetenznetzwerk Lithium-Ionen-Batterien e.V.)

Dr. Peter Lamp received his MSc in Physics in 1989 and his PhD in General Physics in 1993, both from the Technical University of Munich.

Between 1994 and 2000 he was group leader at the Department of Energy Conversion and Storage of the Bayerische Zentrum für Angewandte Energieforschung.

After a short period as project leader for fuel cell systems at Webasto Thermo Systems International GmbH, he joined BMW AG in 2001 as a development engineer for fuel cell systems. Since 2004 he has been in different leading positions for fuel cell and battery technology research and development at BMW e.g. being responsible for the product development of the first generation Li-ion cells for the i3 and i8 as well as building up a strong research group on battery cell technology including the realization of the BMW Battery Cell Competence Center.

At present he is chairman of the board of KLIB (Kompetenznetzwerk Lithium-Ionen-Batterien e.V., Germany) and co-owner and senior strategic advisor of Scires Battery Technologies GmbH.

He received the IBA Technology Award 2022, the IALB Technology Award 2023 and the NAATBatt Lifetime Achievement Award 2024.

Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg

Marc-Simon Löffler, born in 1976, studied chemistry at Saarland University in southwest Germany, where he completed his PhD in 2003 on the subject of "Electrodeposition of nanocrystalline platinum catalysts for PEM fuel cells".

He has been employed at ZSW since 2004. There he was initially project and team leader in the field of mikro CHP fuel cell systems and gas treatment of process gases in the field of power-to-gas. He has been working on the topic of electrolysis since 2010 and has headed the Electrolysis and eFuels department at ZSW since 2019, which currently has around 30 employees. His current focus is primarily on technology transfer projects and the development of testing infrastructures in the field of electrolysis and direct air capture supporting the industry in the market ramp-up.

Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg

Dr. Marilena Mancini is senior scientist responsible of the research topics graphite and carbons for battery applications and recycling of battery materials at the Accumulators Materials Research (ECM) Department of ZSW since 2013.

She is working in the field of Li-ion batteries for 19 years, with experience in academy and industry.

She obtained her PhD in Chemistry in 2009 from the University of Camerino (Italy). She is active in several national and international projects on different topics related to Li-ion batteries, with experience in cathode materials and graphite anodes and with specific focus on particle design and electrochemical analysis methods.

H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH

Dr. Julia Meese-Marktscheffel has 30 years of experience in global innovation and technology management in the chemical industry. She started her professional career at H.C. Starck under the German Bayer AG (12 years), followed by 13 years under the roof of private equity (Advent International and Carlyle Group) and 4 years with the strategic Vietnamese investor Masan High-Tech Materials.  Her current position is Head of Technology and Innovation Global Division at H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH, since end of 2024 as member of the Japanese Mitsubishi Materials Corporation. As graduated inorganic chemist and certified business chemist she is giving direction on the company’s global growth strategy. Her main innovation focus areas are on cutting edge initiatives in the development of new profitable business fields as well as on the processing and recycling of strategic metals (in particular W,  plus Co/Ni and Li). First academic orientation in rare earth element chemistry (PhD) and in ceramic composite materials (Post-doc USA) was followed by about 2 decades intensive industrial research in the cathode active materials development of rechargeable batteries for consumer electronics and electromobility. Further scientific emphasis is across the value chains of the refractory metals (W/Mo, Ta/Nb, Re) and the recycling of battery black mass. Her international track record comprises also the setup of JV and technology transfers in Canada, Japan, China and Vietnam. She is a member of the Scholarship Foundation of the German Nation as well as of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation of Germany.

Siemens Energy, Global GmbH & Co. KG

2020 Siemens Energy, Global GmbH & Co. KG
Business Development
Hydrogen and PtX Germany

2018 Siemens AG, Gas and Power
Sales of New Power Plant Installations – Germany
PtX Projects Germany

2008 Siemens AG, Fossil Power Generation Division
Head of Sales Region West – Germany

2000 Siemens AG, Fossil Power Generation Division
Service Manager Region West – Germany

1991 Siemens AG, Fossil Power Generation Division
Project Manager for Control Systems in Power Plants

1987 – 1991 Dipl.–Phys.–Ing. – University of Essen

V4Smart GmbH & Co. KG

Dr. Raffael Rueß studied pyhsics at Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, finishing 2019 with his Ph.D. in the field of photo-electrochemistry and solar cells in the Group of Prof. Schlettwein. Following this, he started working in the field of lithium-ion batteries as a post-doc in the group of Prof. Janek, with a focus on solid-state batteries and cathode active materials. Dr. Raffael Rueß joined the VARTA Microbattery GmbH in the beginning of 2023 as a development engineer, where he continued in 2024 as group leader responsible for the electrochemical cell design. With the restructuring of the VARTA AG, he became part of the newly formed V4Smart GmbH & Co. KG in March 2025, formerly known as V4Drive.

BASF
Associate Director of CARA - California Research Alliance by BASF.

Kerstin Schierle-Arndt studied chemistry at the University of Bonn and received her PhD 1998 in electrochemistry. She joined BASF in 1998 and was involved in several R&D projects for electrochemical processes for organic and inorganic compounds.

After positions within controlling and marketing she took over the responsibility for a research group dealing with Inorganic Chemistry as Senior Research Manager in 2007. In 2018 Kerstin became Vice President Research Inorganic Materials and Inorganic Synthesis. Her research interests are within new or improved materials for electronic and energy applications and battery recycling. This includes scale-up an process development.

In addition, she is Associate Director of CARA – California Research Alliance by BASF.

ads-tec Energy GmbH
Chief Executive Officer

Thomas Speidel, born in 1967, Founder and CEO of ads-tec Energy GmbH

Degree in electrical engineering, University of Stuttgart

1995 Entry into the family business of ads-tec GmbH

Since 1998 CEO of ADS-TEC and later ADS-TEC Gruppe

2017/2018 Founder and CEO of ads-tec Energy GmbH

Since end of 2021 CEO of the Nasdaq listed ads-tec Energy plc

Further activities, among others:

Since 2016 President of the German Energy Storage Systems Association (BVES)

2018-2024 Member of the Board of Trustees Fraunhofer ISE

Current Awards:

2022 Nomination for the German Future Prize / Deutscher Zukunftspreis - Federal President's Award for Technology and Innovation https://www.deutscher-zukunftspreis.de/en/team-2-2022

2024 Winner of the German Environmental Award, https://www.dbu.de/umweltpreis/

Bosch GmbH

- Bachelor's and Master's degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Stuttgart

- since July 2022 PhD student at Robert Bosch GmbH with the topic: “Development of a lifetime-optimized operating strategy for fuel cell vehicles”

University of Ulm

Professor Dr. Werner Tillmetz is member of the faculty of natural sciences at the University of Ulm. From 2004 until 2018 he was member of the Board of ZSW (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research), being responsible for battery, fuel cell and hydrogen technologies. In 1984, he earned his doctor degree in applied electrochemistry at the Technical University of Munich. For more than 20 years he held several senior management positions in industry.  New energy technologies in space application at Dornier Systems had been an exciting first experience. Thereafter he was responsible for the fuel cell development at Daimler Benz AG and Ballard Power Systems. Finally, at Süd‐Chemie AG he headed up the global catalyst business for energy and environmental applications. Tillmetz was member of various industry and governmental committees, including the National Platform E-Mobility (NPE) and the advisory board to the “National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW GmbH)”. Until today Tillmetz is, among other things, member of the Science Council at TotalEnergies SE and the Advisory Council to Emerald Technology Ventures.

e.systeme21 AG

Mr. Unterharnscheidt is a founding member and board member of the association.

After Mr. Unterharnscheidt has more than 30 years of professional experience as managing director and CFO of various large medium-sized companies, he has devoted himself to renewable energies as an entrepreneur.

In 2013 he founded e.systeme21 GmbH and later team4energy GmbH with the aim of making solar power usable for privat consumption and supporting companies in the implementation of energy efficiency measures.

Mr. Unterharnscheidt is convinced that in the future it will not be possible to supply energy based on renewable energies worldwide without energy storage using hydrogen and the use of hydrogen in the field of mobility and in the building energy sector.

Ecoclean GmbH
Key Account Manager

5 Jahre als
Key Account Manager für die Produktlinie EcoLyzer

BASF SE

- Material scientist, PhD University of Bayreuth

- Working in the field of battery materials R&D for over 20 years, topics including carbon-silicon compound anode materials, passive cell components, electrolyte, NCM cathode materials and next generation materials

- At BASF SE battery materials R&D since 2011, current focus on cathode active materials and new technologies