Daniel Tyrkas is director of automotive solutions at the regional headquarter EMEA of Mitsubishi Chemical. He drives collaboration, innovation and solutions across all business units of Mitsubishi Chemical EMEA to meet customers’ needs across multiple automotive segments and material classes. Daniel received his master’s in mechanical engineering/ Dipl.-Ing. from the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg. His studies focussed on plastics, composites, processing, manufacturing and design engineering. Previously, Daniel worked as business development manager automotive at the carbon fibre and com­posites division of Mitsubishi Chemical focussing on materials and processes that enable high volume manufacturing of CFRP-composite parts. Before joining Mitsubishi Chemical, Daniel has held various technical and commercial positions within the plastics/composites/ automotive industry ranging from technology consulting to sales and marketing director, engineering, application and business development, contributing to the success of com­panies like Altran, General Electric Plastics and SABIC. Daniel has gathered more than 16 years of experience in composites and other high performance materials and components, mainly in the automotive industry.

Friedbert Schmitt received a degree in aerospace engineering at RWTH Aachen University. He previously worked for Schefenacker AG and freeglass GmbH & Co. KG in Schwaikheim, Germany, developing plastic glazing for the automotive industry. In ZAT Automobiltechnik and Robust Plastics GmbH, he was a managing director, responsible for polymer processing with four sites and 500 employees. Now Friedbert is a managing director for Weber Fibertech.

Luca graduated in Industrial Chemistry at University of Turin. Joined CRF Polymers team in 2015 with a master thesis in green materials and technologies. Today he manages materials engineering and innovation activities for aesthetic and high performances plastics with focusing on bio and recycled materials. Luca is also managing the CRF activities within EU funded projects.

Dr. Reiner Nett, aged 49, graduated in Automotive Engineering and re­ceived a doctor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering both at Technical University of Berlin. He is working for more than 22 years in the field of Automotive Safety taking responsibilities in research, numerical simula­tion, crash testing, regulatory affairs and product development. In TAKA­TA, he has established the European business unit of Child Safety Seats. He is responsible for engineering, marketing and sales of this growing business unit. The latest premium-positioned products and applied tech­nologies are implemented and sold by major European automotive man­ufacturers and by newly added selective retailers throughout Europe.

Raquel Ledo Banobre holds a master’s in telecommunication engineering, a degree in research proficiency and advanced studies, and a master’s in automobile enterprises management from the University of Vigo. With over 14 years’ experience, she is currently working as head of the materials innovation department in CTAG (Automotive Technology Centre of Galicia).

Before joining CTAG, Raquel worked as a project manager for a Tier 1 automotive firm. Afterwards, she worked in PSA Peugeot Citröen for three years. Over the last nine years, Raquel has been using her project management experience for R&D project management in CTAG, where she has been directly involved in over 10 EU projects (FP7 and H2020). She has also worked with the European Commission as an expert evaluator in H2020, SME Instrument and FET Open programmes.

Dan graduated from mechanical engineering and then a PhD in filament wound composite pressure vessels from Nottingham University UK. He has now worked in composite materials for over 25 years first designing composite parts and then process and material development. With Gurit he was worked in technical support then material, process, and manufacturing technology development. Over the last 5 years he was worked developing automotive materials and overseeing the implementation of prepreg compression moulding for automotive body panels. This work led to the development of a new short fibre prepreg material which he is going to present today.

From 2001-07, Dr. Timo Huber studied mechanical engineering with the main focus on motor vehicle technology and polymer science at the University of Stuttgart. In 2007, he started at Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, Pfinztal, Germany, in the field of polymer engineering, where he initially worked as principal investigator (PI). In 2009, he headed the working group on injection moulding and extrusion. In 2011, he headed the research group thermoplastic processing focusing on high-volume production processes for thermoplastic composite parts. In 2014, he finished his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT. In 2015, he worked as deputy director of the department polymer engineering at the Fraunhofer ICT. Since 2019, Timo has been working for Hengrui Corporation HRC as vice president heading the Advanced Composite Technology Center ACTC, which focusses on collaboration with national and international partners from industry and R&D for high-volume composite lightweight solutions.

Dr. Christof Kujat studied chemistry at the University of Hannover (Germany) and Stanford University (California, USA). He received his PhD in organic chemistry in March 2007, title: “Studies towards the total synthesis of Ripostatin A & B.” Since June 2007, Dr. Kujat has worked for BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The first 5 years of his career at BASF, he worked in the field of nanotechnology, focusing on surface modification and compounding of nanoparticles, later on focusing on printed electronics. Afterwards, he was responsible for global pigment development for industrial and decorative coatings. As of April 2018, Dr. Kujat began his current position as New Business Development Manager, Pigments for Plastics within BASF Colors and Effects.

Giacomo Parisi works as a Global Marketing Leader in Auto E&E Segment at DuPont, focusing on Power Train electrification, Autonomous & Connected car. Previously, he worked in different marketing and application development functions for specialty materials in auto and electrical sector. He received his MBA degree in 2011 from SDA Bocconi in Italy and Master’s Degree in Material Engineering in 2004 from Politecnico of Milan.

Since 2011, Laurent Gervat has been serving at Renault, an international automobile manufacturer headquartered in France, in the capacity of Expert for Technical Polymers and Composites. He also leads the Upstream Strategy Material Team, which is composed of buyers and engineers. Prior to that, Dr. Gervat had worked for over 20 years for Arkema, a global chemical company with operations in over 40 countries. He held various positions, both technical and marketing, for many of the polymers of the group. Earlier in his career, he was a Scientist at ESPCI (Paris), where he obtained his Ph-D, specializing in mechanical properties and processing of semi-crystalline polymers.

Nicolas started his career in the automotive industry 20 years ago, working for ma­jor Tier 1 and chemical companies (Electricfil Industrie/Unifil Electronic/Sintertech/ Federal Mogul) in France, Turkey and Brazil. He held various increasing positions in project management and sales and marketing. Nicolas was appointed by Solvay En­gineering Plastics in 2007 to develop the thermal management segment. He became application development manager in 2009 prior to holding the position of automotive business development manager for EMEA in 2011. In 2016, Nicolas took the posi­tion of global e-mobility leader to develop the emerging market of electric vehicles, hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles. In November 2018, Nicolas was appointed automotive sales development manager by Solvay Specialty Polymers to develop e-mobility and automotive market with innovative solutions based on ultra-polymers, high perfor­mance polymers and fluoropolymers.

Matt joined PolyOne in 2011 in a corporate marketing role, and since 2018 serves as industry development manager, automotive. PolyOne’s Color & Additives division develops polymer-based solutions that help manufacturers reach their goals for quality, cost management, and sustainable operations. Matt’s presentation will highlight real-world examples, and he will bring parts and samples for attendees to inspect.