The Jury of the Deep Tech Award

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katarina Krüger teaches at HTW Berlin in the field of Business Engineering, specializing in Investment & Finance, Controlling, General Business Administration, as well as practical applications of Blockchain technology within project groups. Additionally, she is the founder of the startup SIMMST, which offers blockchain-based digitalization tools for the real estate industry. She is also a globally recognized speaker on the topic of Blockchain Technology, with her research focus covering Real Estate, Taxation, Finance, and Supply Chain. Katarina Adam is a board member of the Federal Blockchain Association and serves as an advisor in the government initiative DigiHub.

Regine Haschka-Helmer has been working in the digital media industry for 20 years and served as the CEO of the publicly traded company I-D Media AG. In 2010, she founded Seedlab GmbH. The company provides consulting services to startups and businesses on topics related to the development of new digital business fields and products, as well as innovative marketing and technology solutions.

Christoph Haupenthal is the head of the Institute for Applied Blockchain. He has been active as a researcher, entrepreneur, and consultant for more than 25 years. Dr. Haupenthal has successfully executed over 50 strategy and digitalization projects in his career, ranging from efficiency improvements to platform strategies and blockchain technologies.

Geraldine leads Konnektiv as the CEO, an agency specializing in digital transformation in the public sector. She is also the founder of the Global Innovation Gathering (GIG), a network of grassroots innovators, social entrepreneurs, founders, and managers of makerspaces, hackerspaces, and innovation centers.

Additionally, Geraldine serves as a moderator and speaker at events related to digital transformation, sustainability, and innovation.

Peter Udo Diehl is the CEO and founder of Aiur Capital. Before that he was the co-founder of the Deep Tech company Audatic, along with Elias Sprengel. He and his team did work on a software solution that uses Artificial Intelligence to filter out disturbing background noises, thereby improving the quality of life for individuals with hearing impairment and deafness. The Berlin-based startup has become one of the most successful Deep Tech companies in Germany within just twelve months and was awarded the Deep Tech Award in 2019.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen Schiller is the CIO of Freie Universität Berlin and head of the Computer Systems & Telematics research group at the Institute of Computer Science at the Freie Universität Berlin. He was a board member of the Einstein Center Digital Future and the head of the Innovation Center for Public Security at Fraunhofer FOKUS. After fostering several start-ups in the area of networking and embedded systems, he currently is CEO of TURMsolutions, a company developing public warning and alerting systems. His research focuses on wireless, mobile, embedded systems, their communication protocols and operating systems, as well as networked security.

After holding professorships at the University of Stuttgart and RWTH Aachen University, Prof. Jeschke was appointed as the Chief Officer of Digitalization and Technology at Deutsche Bahn AG in 2017. She serves as the Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of DB Systel GmbH and is a member of the supervisory boards of Koerber AG and Schenker AG. Prof. Jeschke also holds honorary professorships at RWTH Aachen University, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and at the Technical University of Berlin, Faculty of Economics and Management, with a focus on digital technologies and digital transformation. Her expertise lies in areas such as AI, Data Analytics, cyber-physical systems, robotics, automation technology, and human-machine interaction.

Matthias Ziege is the Site Manager for the Mercedes-Benz Plant in Berlin-Marienfelde and Head of the MB Digital Factory Campus, the Center of Competence for Digitalization and Automation in the Mercedes-Benz Production Network. With his expertise in Automotive Production and a clear Focus on Innovation, he promotes efficient, flexible Production Processes and drives the Implementation of future-oriented Technologies.

Gregor Thiele is head of the Process Automation and Robotics department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK. Since 2011, he has been working on innovations in automation technology and robotics, with a focus on industrial energy management. In 2022, he completed his doctorate on the topic of optimizing the operation of supply systems, which was awarded the Manfred Hirschvogel Prize for the best dissertation of the year at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TU Berlin. He and his team overcome repetitive, ergonomically harmful or unhealthy activities by using creative solutions with and without robots. Targeted operational optimization makes industrial production more energy-efficient and resource-saving.